
Class !•■ -J V V- a 



Book. 






Ggpght]^?. 



CjOESfRIGHT DEPOSm 



Cbrletlan Service Serlee 

=^= EDITED BY =^== 
E. HERSHEY SNEATH, Ph.D.,LL.D. 

Professor of the Philosophy of Religion and Religious 
Education, Yale University 



MODERN CHRISTIAN CALLINGS 



jB^g^ 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY . 

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MODERN CHRISTIAN 
CALLINGS 



P EDITED BY 



EyHERSHEY SNEATH 



BIBLICAL TEACHING IN SCHOOL AND COLLEGE 

BY 
IRVING WOOD 

EXECUTIVES FOR CHRISTIAN ENTERPRISES 

BY 
DWIGHT H. DAY 

OPPORTUNITIES FOR SOCIAL WORK 

BY 
WILLIAM BACON BAILEY 



^etD |?orft 
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1922 
AU rights reserved 






Copyright, 1922, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Set up and electrotyped, 1922; published, May, 1922 



Printed in the United States of America 



aCI.AB74;i69 



PREFACE 

This book, as the title page indicates, aims to acquaint 
the reader with the nature and opportunities of certain 
leading Christian Callings and the personal and educa- 
tional qualifications necessary for success in them. The 
work of these professions is so important for the individual 
and for society, and the demand for specially trained men 
is so great, that it is hoped a book of this kind will prove 
helpful to young men contemplating some form of such 
service as a life work, as well as to the organizations 
that represent these Callings in their efforts to secure 
recruits. The book is designed primarily for use among 
college men. 

E. Heeshey Sneath. 

Yale University, February 22, 1922. 



CONTENTS 

PAET I 

Biblical Teaching in School and College 

Irving F. Wood, Ph.D., Professor of Biblical Liter- 
ature and Comparative Religion, Smith College. 

PAET II 

Executives eor Chukch Enterprises 

Dwight H. Day, B.A., Secretary of the Board of 
Missions, Presbyterian Church. 

PART III 

Social Service 

William Bailey, Ph.D., Formerly Professor of 
Practical Philanthropy, Yale University. 



PAET I 

BIBLICAL TEACHING IE" SCHOOL AND 

COLLEGE 

By 

Irving !F. Wood 



MODERN CHRISTIAN 
CALLINGS 



BIBLICAL TEACHING IN SCHOOL AND 

COLLEGE 

IN numbers Bible teaching is one of the smaller profes- 
sions. At present probably not more than six hun- 
dred positions are held by Bible teachers, both men 
and women, in the United States; not a thousand among 
the English-speaking people in the world. The positions 
will increase in numbers, but probably not rapidly nor 
extensively. The profession might easily be overcrowded, 
but it is not likely to be, because a thorough preparation 
for it is a task of labor and patience, and the work is not 
one to attract those who ^^seek great things for them- 
selves.'^ The fact that the field is so small leads most 
people away from it. Up to the present time there has 
been a shortage of adequately prepared teachers, and each 
year sees a few positions open which are difficult to fill 
satisfactorily. 

L The Field of Biblical Teaching 

There is a certain limited field in the better private 
schools. Many schools teach the Bible, and more would 
if they could find properly prepared teachers. The pres- 
sure upon the teaching time of the schools is great. Sub- 
jects clamor for admission. College preparation controls 
the courses of those students who are going to college. But 

many head masters feel that some knowledge of the Bible 

3 



4 Biblical Teaching in School and College 

is an essential part of the equipment of an educated per- 
son, whether college bred or not. Some church schools 
also require the subject. In 1919 a Preliminary Eeport 
of a Committee on the Definition of a Unit of Bible Study 
for Secondary Schools^ was published, setting forth a 
standard course in Bible which might be used as a unit 
of College entrance. The faculties of over two hundred 
colleges had already by the spring of 1921 voted to 
accept among the optional subjects for entrance one unit 
of work in Bible, if done under prepared teachers and 
with a thoroughness equal to the work of other subjects 
offered for College entrance. Boards of Admission of 
Colleges will not be lenient in the requirements of this 
subject, for many members of faculties, whose only idea 
of Bible study is derived from the memories of the shallow- 
ness and inefficiency of the ^^Sunday school work'' of their 
childhood, look with great suspicion on this as an entrance 
subject. That, however, will only make the demand for 
properly qualified teachers more urgent. No school that 
intends to offer its Bible work for college entrance can 
afford, for the sake of its general scholastic reputation, 
to have that work poorly done. If it is given into the 
hands of whatever teacher happens to have a little less 
crowded schedule than others, without regard to prepara- 
tion or special knowledge, the school may expect to have 
its work declined. 

Few schools can afford to provide a teacher for Bible 
alone. Generally a teacher of Bible in the schools must 
be prepared to do some other work also. One change we 
may expect in the future. In the past the Bible has 
been taught by some one whose main work was Latin or 
Mathematics or some other subject. In the future we may 
expect that there will be a call for teachers whose main 
work is Bible, but who will also be competent to teach 
other subjects. 

iSee Religious Education, December, 1919 (Vol. XIV), p. 389ff. 



The Field of Biblical Teachii^^g 5 

It is in the College field that the greatest demand for 
teachers of Bible exists, and is likely to exist for an in- 
definite time in the future. Here there is no question of 
combination of the Bible with other work. The self- 
respecting college desires its teachers of the Bible to be 
as exclusively devoted to their subject as are the teachers 
of any other department. It is recognized in all college 
circles that the demands for preparation and for keeping 
abreast of the progress of scholarship in this subject are 
as exacting as in any other. 

Over three hundred colleges in the United States offer 
a certain amount of Bible work. Approximately one third 
of these utilize the entire time of a teacher in Bible, and 
in the rest Bible work is done by a teacher who gives a 
certain proportion of his time to other teaching. The 
combination of Bible with other subjects, however, is not 
considered desirable, and is usually only regarded as a 
temporary expedient, to be changed as soon as conditions 
will permit. 

A movement which is likely to increase is that of Junior 
Colleges. In some states, as Missouri, there is a definite 
relation between the Junior Colleges and the State Univer- 
sity. Some cities are adding to their high schools local 
Junior Colleges, and more are likely to follow the plan. 
These Junior Colleges give the first two years of college 
work, or, in the case of some local city colleges, only 
the first year. The reason for their organization is 
that many students who would be glad to take college 
work find themselves unable to do so at the close of their 
high school course. Such students may obtain at a local 
Junior College at least a part of a college course, and 
often may be able to proceed to a standard college for 
the later years. In some parts of the country ambitious 
secondary schools on the one hand and so-called colleges 
which have never been able to gain a proper collegiate 
equipment on the other, have been able to offer respectable 
work as Junior Colleges. The movement has an interest- 



6 Biblical Teachii^g in School ai^b College 

ing future with many problems. If handled wisely, it 
may be an important factor in the educational system. 

Work in Junior Colleges is specially worthy of con- 
sideration for two reasons. One is that it is liable to 
be overshadowed in the minds of prospective teachers by 
the greater prestige and glamour of the standard colleges. 
The danger is that Junior Colleges will have to content 
themselves with the left-overs from the candidates for 
college teaching. This ought not to be so. This field 
is in some respects as important as that of the standard 
college. The teacher will have, in general, more influence 
upon his pupils, and will be more closely in touch with 
the communities from which they come. His opportunity 
for definitely molding life will often be greater than it 
would be if he found his work in a large standard college 
with many other teachers and with all the diversions of 
college life. 

The second reason for its special consideration is the 
chance it offers to the person of initiation and large vision 
to perform a distinctive service for the future. Here is a 
field where, amid the rapidly settling forms of our civili- 
zation, definite pioneer work may still be done. The pos- 
sible field for Junior Colleges is large. Cities with am- 
bitious educational departments are very likely to desire 
their own Junior Colleges. In the larger cities, some 
of these will develop into local city-supported standard 
colleges. To help mold their policies and ideals and to 
influence the whole movement of which they are a part, 
will be a work not insignificant or unimportant. Where 
these Junior Colleges are tax-supported, as in the city 
schools, the problem of moral and religious teaching will 
be of great importance. It is as yet wholly unsolved. 
It is certain to arise, and tact, wisdom and patience will 
be needed in its solution. Here is a great opportunity for 
educational and Christian statesmanship. 

The State Universities offer a different but kindred 
group of problems which are still for the most part await- 



The Pield of Biblical Teachhs-o 7 

ing solution. How shall the religious needs of their large 
body of students be met? That it will be met we may 
assume. Religion as a factor in all worthy education is 
being recognized as it has not been before. 

There are two phases of the problem. One is what may 
be called the pastoral side; how to keep the students in 
touch with the church and its religious influence. The 
other is the teaching side; how to introduce the study of 
the Bible and of religion to the scholarly consciousness of 
the students. This is the teacher's problem. Its difficulty 
lies in the necessity of avoiding the charge of sectarianism 
in state supported schools. The non-sectarian character 
of public education in a democracy is right and must be 
carefully guarded. 'None should be more careful to guard 
it than those who profess to be working for religious 
education. Those who laud ethics must not be unethical. 

At present the teaching problem is met in two ways, 
In some states schools of religion are formed whose courses 
are recognized by the university and, under certain reason- 
able conditions, are credited toward degrees. The con- 
ditions and standards for the accrediting of such courses 
in connection with the University of Illinois were pub- 
lished in Religions Education^ April, 1920. Among the 
specifications is, that the teachers in these schools shall 
have a Ph.D. from a university of recognized standing, 
or an equivalent education acceptable to the University. 
Teachers in such affiliated schools will need to be thor- 
oughly equipped and to possess more than the usual meas- 
ure of ability and personality ; but the rewards in service 
to the state and in construction of character will be pro- 
portionally great. 

In other states courses in the Bible and the history of 
religion and kindred subjects are introduced, sometimes 
in connection with chairs of ancient history or Semitics. 
This plan gives the teacher the technical advantage of 
working directly under the university, but he must be care- 
ful not to arouse sectarian jealousies. He will need also 



8 Biblical Teaching in School and College 

to keep his aim of religious idealism very clearly defined, 
or he will find himself working only on the level of in- 
tellectual effort. For the right man with the right ideals 
state university teaching offers a field of great useful- 
ness. 

The positions in state universities are at present very 
few in number. They will never be numerous. Another 
field, also limited, is the teaching in professional schools 
of theology. Here technical scholars are needed in Semitic 
languages and Biblical and Patristic Greek. The older 
tradition that all theological students must be able to read 
the Bible in Hebrew is passing ; some think it a pity. But 
certainly it is to be hoped that there will always be a group 
of students of theology who will only be satisfied with 
thorough Biblical scholarship. They ought to realize that 
they cannot be thorough students of the Bible without 
Greek and Hebrew. 

As the pressure of a wider range of studies takes from 
the time formerly given to Greek and Hebrew it becomes 
all the more necessary that the study of the Bible offered 
to theological students should be given by teachers of the 
widest and most thorough Biblical scholarship, combined 
with a clear insight into modem life. Religious leaders 
must, if Christianity is to keep its power, go out from 
the schools of theology with the ability to make clear to 
the church and the world the connection between the 
principles of Biblical religion and the needs of the world 
to-day. Their teachers must help them to see this con- 
nection. 

II. The Differentiation of Biblical Teachii^g 

The needs of the secondary school differ from those of 
the college and these from the needs of the professional 
school ; and to each the teaching of the Bible must be 
adapted. In the secondary school must be given some 
elementary knowledge of the great facts of Hebrew his- 



The Differei^tiation of Biblical Teaching 9 

tory; a familiarity with the more important stories of 
the Bible; an appreciation of its great characters, includ- 
ing that of Christ ; and the principles of Biblical religion 
and ethics in their application to the life of to-day. This 
can be summed up thus: A reasonable familiarity with 
(a) the contents of the Biblical story, (b) the elements 
of Biblical history; (c) the fundamentals of Biblical re- 
ligion. By a reasonable familiarity is meant the knowl- 
edge which will make a person intelligent in the common 
Biblical uses of English literature and in the application 
of Biblical principles to the problems of daily life and 
of public affairs. It covers both the ^ ^cultural" and the 
^^practicaF' side of education. 

In colleges the aim is again twofold: "cultural" and 
"practical." On the "cultural" side, however, it is not 
merely to gain familiarity with Biblical stories or the 
bare facts of Hebrew history, but primarily to trace the 
growth of Biblical history and literature, that students 
may see how the evolution of man has worked in the field 
of Hebrew life ; to be able to appreciate the great types of 
Biblical literature, — story, prophecy, poetry, apocalypse, 
and, in the New Testament, letters. Students should be 
able to make some intelligent comparison of Biblical lit- 
erature with the literature of other races and other times. 
This is the cultural objective toward which the college 
course must move. It involves the ability to understand, 
appreciate and sympathize with a life and civilization not 
our own. 

N"ow this is culture abstractly defined ; but the process 
of gaining it is concrete. In the Bible, it means a study 
of the various sources of the Hexateuch, and the purpose 
and point of view of each; of the aims of the writers of 
the books of the Bible; of the social situation which called 
forth the fire of Amos and Micah ; of the politics of Isaiah 
and Jeremiah ; of the passoniate hope with which Ezekiel 
and the Second Isaiah met the despair of the exile ; of the 
causes and the limitations of apocalyptic writing; of the 



10 Biblical Teaching iisr School at^d College 

inter-relations of the synoptic gospels and of the occasions 
of Paul's letters. But all through these literary and re- 
ligious studies the modern college student must he made 
to feel the pulsing of life, with the fundamental human 
passions which thrill in the world about him to-day. Then 
his study of the Bible will issue in sympathy, which is, 
after all, only another name for culture. 

But, great as it is, the cultural aspect is the smaller 
part of the object of college teaching of the Bible. Edu- 
cation must issue in a better life. Culture as the sympa- 
thetic understanding of other life makes the cultured per- 
son's own life richer and more useful. Here the teachers 
of the Bible possess an advantage over the teachers of 
other literatures. Most of the Bible — all except the minor 
books of Esther and the Song of Songs — ^was written for 
a religious purpose. One cannot study the books of the 
Bible from a purely literary point of view without finding 
himself soon in the presence of a religious ideal. That 
the religious beliefs of some writers differ from that of 
others and those of most writers from our own beliefs at 
some points is an advantage to the College teacher. It 
forces a critical examination of the foundations of re- 
ligious beliefs. This helps immensely in the readjust- 
ment of religious ideas which is usually going on in a 
student's mind. Thus the teacher of the Bible can, with- 
out the least intrusion upon the sacred bounds of the stu- 
dent's personality, assist as no other teacher can in meet- 
ing the plain obligation which rests upon the college to 
^^help the student's religious development keep pace with 
his development in other aspects of life and culture." 

People of conservative points of view sometimes com- 
plain that the modern college teacher of the Bible ^^up- 
sets" his students ; that his teaching tends to unsettle the 
faith of their childhood. That depends very largely on 
what the faith of their childhood was. If it was a static 
faith, staking all religion on the truth of certain opinions 
about the Bible — e. g., that its science and history must be 



The Differentiation of Biblicai. Teaching 11 

accurate or else its religion is false — and on the correct- 
ness of certain theological doctrines, then the student 
does not need to reach the Bible class to be ^^upset.'' Sci- 
ence and philosophy usually do the work. As a matter of 
fact, the Bible department, in such cases, often performs 
the part of a wrecking expedition, rescuing the remnants 
of a shattered faith and showing the students how they 
may build a stable foundation for religious life. If the 
faith of their childhood provided for growth and change 
with the growing, changing life, then there is no "upset- 
ting," no wrecking of faith by Biblical of any other study. 
Then religion simply expands with the progress of knowl- 
edge as plants expand in the sunshine and shower of the 
spring, naturally, easily, without struggle or strain. This 
is what should be. Why should the readjustment in re- 
ligious ideals be any more painful than the social read- 
justment from a family-centered world to a world of wide 
obligations? This happier conception of religion is far 
more frequent among students than it was a few years 
ago. Less and less often is the teacher of the Bible obliged 
to see the pitiful sight of the slow rebuilding of a wrecked 
childhood faith. 

The needs of the professional schools are different still. 
The Biblical training of pastors, Y. M. C. A. secretaries, 
and other religious leaders must be in the use of the Bible 
as a factor in the development of religious experience. It 
must include two elements. One is a training in the more 
technical elements of modern Biblical study as a back- 
ground of the thorough Biblical knowledge which a re- 
ligious leader should possess; the other is a more careful 
study than is possible in the college course of Biblical 
thought and its relation to the thought and life of to-day. 
The church especially needs pastors who will neither in- 
terpret Biblical religion narrowly, nor be obliged to aban- 
don the Bible and its teachings when they approach the 
gravest problems of modern life because they are funda- 
mentally ignorant of the foundation principles of its 



12 Biblical Teachii^g in School and College 

teaching. In addition to tkese needs, the professional 
school must offer, if its tradition of pure scholarship is to 
be preserved, work of a highly technical character, for 
which teachers are needed who have a genius for spe- 
cialized investigation. 

III. The Biblical Curriculum 

The curriculum of Biblical study in secondary schools 
on the one hand, and in graduate and professional schools 
on the other, is determined by circumstances. In sec- 
ondary schools what colleges will accept is liable to dom- 
inate the curriculum in this as in other subjects. In gen- 
eral that course will be wisely planned; but no teacher 
ought to make himself a slave to it. If he feels that he 
can effectively do some portion of his work in his own 
way he should have that liberty, especially where the work 
is not to be offered for college entrance. The great prob- 
lems of making a curriculum come in college work. The 
subject has no traditions. As a college study it has 
grown up entirely within the present generation. The 
pioneer teachers of it are still at work. These teachers 
had no models to follow. They worked out their own 
plans and developed their own elective and, in certain 
places, required courses, with no aid from tradition and 
little from consultation. Not till after the founding of 
the Religious Education Association in 1903 was there 
any medium of common knowledge of what was being 
done. In 1911 an association of the teachers of Bible in 
Schools and Colleges was formed, which meets annually 
in or near New York in the Christmas holidays for the 
discussion of aims and methods in Bible teaching. Tradi- 
tions and standards are beginning to appear as the result 
of the comparison of the independent experience of many 
teachers. 

It is interesting that without much consultation the 
Biblical curriculum has taken a somewhat definite form. 



The Biblical Curriculum 13 

In nearly all colleges a general fundamental course is of- 
fered, upon which all other Biblical work is based. This 
is sometimes called Hebrew History and sometimes Bibli- 
cal Introduction or Biblical Literature. The difference 
is largely a difference of emphasis ; in one kind of course 
the history is studied with the literature introduced in 
its proper chronological order ; in the other, the literature 
is studied in order, with the introduction of so much of 
the history as shall make the occasion and purpose of the 
literature plain. In either kind of course the purpose is 
to understand the Bible; to know why the writers of the 
various books wrote and what it was they wished to say; 
to be able by historic- sympathy to look at life in some 
measure as they looked at it; and then to come back to 
the problems of our own life bringing their answers to the 
problems of their life. Their answers do not always fit 
our problems, but the fundamental religious principles 
upon which their answers rest usually underlie our 
answers. 

Upon the basis of this comprehensive course other 
courses should be offered, suited in number and subject 
to the student's needs and the teacher's interests. Here 
may come a thorough study of some of the teachings of 
Jesus, or a more careful study of some particular portion 
of the literature ; apocalyptic or Johannine or Pauline. A 
study of Biblical thought in its historical development is 
specially fitted for the upper years. So is the social ethics 
of New Testament Christianity. In general, courses in 
the upper college years should be concerned not with the 
gathering of mere historic facts, but with the development 
of ideas, with their criticism and with their application 
to the conditions of present life. A teacher of Biblical 
literature may profitably ask himself, ^^How would a 
teacher of the history of Greek or French literature deal 
with this book if it lay in his field ?" A teacher of courses 
appropriate to upper classes may ask, ^^How would a 
teacher of the history of ethics or of economic theory deal 



14 Biblical Teachii^g in School and College 

with this subject if it lay in his field?'' The first thing 
college students need is definite information; the second 
is power to think. The Biblical courses ought to con- 
tribute to both disciplines. 

The following are two arrangements of the subjects 
from which a curriculum of a Biblical department may 
select its material: 

I. A three-fold classification: 

(1) Religion — its philosophy, psychology, history. 

(2) Biblical religion — its history, literature, content. 

(3) Practical religion — its organization and conduct.^ 

II. A four-fold division : 

Group I. Religion: (1) Psychology, (2) Ethics, (3) 
The History of Eeligion, (4)^ The Philosophy of Ee- 
ligion. 

Group II. Biblical Religion: (1) Biblical History, 
(2) Biblical Literature, (3) Biblical Religion, (4) Bibli- 
cal Language. 

Group III. Christian Religion: (1) History of Chris- 
tianity, (2) The Social Problems of Christianity, (3) 
The Propagation of Christianity. 

Group IV. Religious Education: (1) The History of 
Education, (2) Methods and Practice Work.^ 

N^either of these schemes is arranged in the order of 
presentation in a college course. That order should pro- 
ceed from the concrete to the abstract. They are valuable 
as giving the field within which lie the legitimate sub- 
jects of a department of Biblical study. One sees that 
the field is wider than the Bible. The department which 
deals with it at all adequately may very properly be called, 
not The Department of Biblical Literature, but The De- 
partment of Religion. Some teachers prefer this wider 
title. 



* Professor H. T. Fowler, Religious Education, Vol. X, No. 4, 
p. 357. 

2 Professor I. J. Ismar, Religious Education, Vol. X, No. 4, p. 362. 



Related Subjects- 15 



IV. Related Subjects 

In ordinary school and college work the teacher of the 
Bible will often be called upon to teach kindred subjects. 
In schools the teacher of the Bible may expect to teach 
other subjects out of the ordinary school curriculum. In 
college he ought not to be called upon to teach unrelated 
subjects, any more than the teacher of Greek or Mathe- 
matics or Chemistry. There are, however, certain re- 
lated subjects which fall more or less appropriately within 
his proper field. A glance through the catalogues of col- 
leges will show that few Bible teachers confine themselves 
strictly to teaching the Bible. 

The following subjects are often included with the 
Bible in college curricula: 

1. A Group of Philosophical Subjects, Psychology of 
Religion. This subject has come to the front with the 
present generation. The pioneer work on modern lines 
was Starbuck's Psychology of Religion, 1899. Since then 
the subject has commanded constantly increased attention. 
A good body of material for study has been gathered, 
though there is much need for more work. The subject 
belongs properly to the department of psychology. 'No one 
but a trained psychologist should handle it. If, however, 
the department of psychology does not wish to take it, and 
if the teacher of Bible has the proper training, it may 
properly fall within his sphere. He is constantly dealing 
with material belonging to the subject; the prophetic con- 
sciousness, the effect of sacrifice and temple ritual, the in- 
citement to faith in the exile, the apocalyptic psychology, 
Paul's conversion, and much else. If the subject is taught 
in the department of psychology he may cooperate by con- 
tributing much to its material, and it should in turn throw 
light on many Biblical situations. 

Philosophy of Religion. This subject is as old as the 
problem of God and His relation to the world. Its roots 



16 BiBUCAL Teaching in School and College 

lie in Greek philosophy. It belongs properly to the de- 
partment of philosophy. It needs for its proper treat- 
ment a wide and sympathetic knowledge of the history of 
philosophy, l^ow the Bible is not philosophical in the 
technical sense. The Hebrews never raised problems of 
reality or of the universe. They assumed an immediate 
relation between God and the world, but they did not dis- 
cuss it. We, who are intellectual descendants of the 
Greeks and religious descendants of the Hebrews, find 
the religious assumptions of the Bible immediately rais- 
ing philosophical problems. The teacher of the Bible 
whose students feel the delightful freedom of saying what 
they really think in his classroom will frequently find 
himself presented with questions from the field of the 
philosophy of religion. But if it is not offered by the de- 
partment of philosophy, and if the teacher of Bible has 
the proper qualifications, the subject may well appear in 
the Biblical department. 

2. A Group of Historical Subjects. Oriental History. 
In many colleges the main Biblical course is called He- 
brew History. Aside from this, however, the develop- 
ment of the ancient Oriental civilizations not only throws 
light upon the Bible, but is worth study for its illustra- 
tions of the laws of historic evolution. The teacher with 
the needed equipment may well bring this historical study 
down to the present. It is a fascinating study, rich in 
material for the understanding of historical m.ovements 
in the west as well as in the east. 

Oriental history opens to the teacher two temptations. 
One is that of superficiality. It is easy to teach names 
and dates out of text books and leave the whole subject a 
mere valley of dry bones; yet nowhere in the world have 
the movements of history brought more tragedy or triumph, 
more suffering or comfort to the people. No one ought 
to teach the subject till he has so lived himself into it that 
these eastern lands are not remote and strange, but a vital 
part of the brotherhood of humanity; Eastern travel may 



Related Subjects ' ' 17 

help in this sympathy^ but a man with a vivid historical 
imagination who has never crossed the ocean may yet 
have felt the throb of reality in the life of the Orient. 

The other temptation is the opposite. It is the danger 
of swamping the work with historical or archaeological 
detail. It would be easy to spend a year on Egyptian 
Archaeology or on the patesis and kings of the old Baby- 
lonian empire. Such courses should be kept for graduate 
work in universities. The undergraduate needs a course 
which will prepare him to understand the laws of his- 
torical development. 

The History of Religion. This subject naturally be- 
longs to the Biblical department, whose chief topic is the 
literature of religion. It is one of the broadest subjects in 
the college curriculum; so broad that in universities it is 
often distributed among the specialists in Sanskrit, Ara- 
bic, Greek, and other subjects. 'No one can cover the 
entire field at first hand. For a large part of it he must 
stand upon the shoulders of others. A teacher of the sub- 
ject ought to know, in some measure of intimacy, the lit- 
erature and language of at least one religion beside the 
Biblical religions. If he has a technical knowledge of 
two he may consider himself fortunate. He can hardly 
expect to have read the religious literature in Arabic, 
Sanskrit, Pali, Chinese and ancient Persian, yet he will 
be teaching all these and more. He must, however, have 
read widely and carefully in translation; but more than 
this, he must possess the historical imagination which 
makes it possible for him to carry his classes with him 
into points of view far different from their own. He 
must make them think with Hindu philosophers and feel 
with Moslem mullahs. Students of the history of re- 
ligion must not sit outside a religion and criticise it. If 
that is all that can be done it is doubtful if the subject is 
worth study. They must enter into its holy of holies 
and know why it has commanded the services of myriads 
of men through centuries of time. 



18 Biblical Teachii^g in School ain^d College 

Much of the time of a class in the history of religion 
must be given to a mastery of the facts of the subject. 
This, however, is never the main purpose of the course. 
The study should issue in a clear understanding of the 
laws of religious growth and decay. Why did a religion 
appeal ? Why did it spread to other lands or remain 
fixed? What elements in it changed and why? What 
makes a religion missionary ? What is the effect of mysti- 
cism and ritualism and asceticism in religion? Under 
what circumstances do religions decay? Students who 
have asked such questions of other religions are in a posi- 
tion to understand the movements in their own religion. 
The bane of the judgment of Christianity in Christian 
lands has been that neither its critics nor its defenders 
have had any knowledge of the general laws of religious 
evolution. Incidentals have too often been regarded as es- 
sentials and natural changes as disastrous decay. The 
study of the history of religion should, by developing a 
scientific criticism of religion, make such ignorant judg- 
ments impossible to educated persons in the future. 

The History of Christian Thought. This is in reality 
a part of the history of religion. It is not the technical 
study of theology as that subject is studied in a theologi- 
cal seminary. It is a study of our Christian heritage of 
thought ; the way it grew up, the changes of religious em- 
phasis in the past century and the present trends of Chris- 
tian thinking. Its aim is to help the students under- 
stand the Christian religion, past and present, and to help 
them adjust religion to the needs of the new day in which 
they will live. Christianity is making great changes of 
emphasis, even of opinion, but the spirit of Christ was 
never more regnant than it is to-day. What the changes 
mean and what is needed in the immediate future, such 
a course as this ought to help the student to see. I^o de- 
partment except the Biblical department is likely to of- 
fer the course. The Bible alone will not prepare the 



Belated Subjects - 19 

teacher for it. He must understand the doctrines of the 
past, and most of all, the driving force of religion to-day, 
Protestant and Catholic, ritualistic and mystical, individ- 
ual and social. If he can interpret the Christian world to 
his students he will be doing perhaps his largest service 
to the kingdom of God. 

3. A Group of Subjects Interpreting Biblical Re- 
ligion. Already, in discussing courses on the history o"f 
Christian thought, we have approached this field. Here 
also lie courses in Biblical thought, in the ethics or social 
teaching of Jesus, in the letters and ideas of Paul, and 
much other directly Biblical material. There are, how- 
ever, certain subjects lying outside the immediate Biblical 
field. 

Christian Fundamentals. Other names may be used, 
but under any title the essence of the course is a study 
of the structural conceptions of the Christian view of 
God and the world in their relation to modern knowl- 
edge and ethical and social ideals. Schleiermacher wrote 
of ^^pectoral theology" — theology of the heart. This 
course is ^Vital theology'' — theology of the life. It tries to 
accomplish for the student much the same as the course 
in the history of Christian thought — ^to interpret re- 
ligion in terms of present life, — but it does it not by trac- 
ing the history of Christian concepts, but by subjecting 
the fundamental ideas of the religion to the criticism of 
reason in the light of present ideals. How can the man 
of to-day interpret the Christian concepts of God, Christ, 
prayer, the kingdom of God, social righteousness? Such 
problems form the content of the course. The need for 
such a course is great. In this day, when we make large 
pretense of prizing clear thinking on all other subjects, 
even scholarly people are too often content with absurdly 
nebulous notions in religion. Those interested in the prep- 
aration of missionaries and other Christian workers de- 
mand such a course. Students respond to it with readi- 



20 Biblical Teachiistg in School and College 

ness. It is a popular fallacy that students are not in- 
terested in clarifying their religious thinking. There are 
few fields of thought in which they are more interested. 
One of the reasons why religion seems unreal to so many 
of them is that they have been led to suppose it to be a 
subject on which clear thinking from modern points of 
view is no longer possible. A Christian college ought to 
show them that it is possible. 

Not every good Bible teacher, however, is fitted to 
teach this course. A knowledge of theology, present as 
well as past, a still more intimate knowledge of the trends 
of modern scientific and social thought, and some apti- 
tude for philosophic thinking, are needed. Still more is 
needed the power of sympathy with inchoate thinking, 
with conceptions half grown or even only coming to birth, 
whether these be in the minds of students feeling their 
way into religious light, or in the growing consciousness 
of the social world in which we live to-day. The danger 
is that such a course may be either the easy study of 
theology-in-a-book or sentimental generalizings on religion 
and life. He who would really help modern students 
must grip things deep down and do hard thinking on the 
profoundest problems of modern life. 

Christian Ethics. This is sometimes treated as the 
study of Christian ethical theory, sometimes as ^^applied 
ethics," which means Christian ethical standards applied 
to modern life. What Christianity demands in the con- 
duct of life is a question pressing for answer in the mod- 
ern world. Intelligent Christianity must answer it or con- 
fess failure. It is a fitting subject for college study. But 
this is another subject which merely Biblical study will 
not prepare a teacher to handle. What was said in the 
last paragraph about the need of clear knowledge and 
deep sympathy with present life and thought holds true 
here also. Especially must the teacher be in sympathy 
with the best in present social movements, and yet he 



Eelated Subjects - 21 

should not be led away from the plain facts of economic 
law and human tendency by a misty idealism out of touch 
with reality, however vigorously it asserts its Christian 
character. The world needs few things more than clear 
and sane teaching on Christian ethics. It can dispense 
with nothing more easily than with sentimental, half-in- 
formed theorizing which dignifies benevolent social dreams 
with the term Christian. If the teacher of the Bible is 
ignorant of economics and sociology he will aid the sub- 
ject most by letting it alone. 

4. Religious Education. This subject is now com- 
manding much attention. It is one of the new subjects, 
only recently appearing in college curricula. As the study 
of the principles of religious education it involves re- 
ligious and educational psychology. As the study of the 
methods of religious education it demands an intimate 
knowledge of past and present methods of developing the 
religious life in children and youths. The teacher should 
know Catholic catechetical methods as well as Protestant 
Sunday Schools. He must keep himself informed regard- 
ing the rapidly developing methods of religious education 
in the present; and no subject outside the kaleidoscope 
of politics is shifting more rapidly. The teacher who is 
able and willing to meet the exacting demands of this sub- 
ject and who has the proper background of psychology 
and educational history can help meet a very pressing 
need by teaching it. It belongs with the department of 
education more directly than with the Biblical depart- 
ment, but it seems to be falling to the latter most often. 
There is a growing demand for it. The danger is that 
unprepared teachers will, under the pressure of this de- 
mand, take it up. Biblical knowledge in itself furnishes 
very little preparation for it. When a teacher knows 
enough of education to give a course in its principles then 
he has the basis for special preparation to teach religious 
education. 



22 Biblical Teaching in School and College 

5. A Group of Linguistic Subjects. In some colleges 
Biblical Greek and Hebrew are offered. Biblical Greek 
may often be taught better by the Greek department, if 
that department possesses a teacher interested in the in- 
terpretation of the thought as well as the language of the 
New Testament. The new discoveries of Egyptian Greek 
papyri have thrown so much light on the language of the 
N'ew Testament that its proper teaching calls for more 
recent knowledge than can be found in the older books. 

Hebrew is not likely to be coveted by any other depart- 
ment, nor are classes in it likely to be large. For one 
who loves language teaching even a few students offer a 
rewarding work. Hebrew is an appropriate college sub- 
ject, both for those who propose to go on with Biblical 
studies and for the larger number interested in linguis- 
tics. Students of language ought to study some language 
outside the Aryan group. The best and easiest language 
for comparison is Hebrew. It has its intrinsic interest. 
It is not difficult, as languages go. It is far easier than 
Arabic, for instance. A year's study of it will yield much 
more command of its literature than a year's study of 
Greek or Sanskrit. As a means of general linguistic cul- 
ture Hebrew might well command more interest than it 
does at present. 

It is obvious that no one teacher can teach all these 
subjects. It is not necessary that any one institution 
should offer them all. In general, a department ought to 
offer some subject outside strictly Biblical work. The 
needs of present life call for it. A teacher cannot usually 
handle, in addition to Biblical work, more than one or 
two of the subjects listed; the demands for preparation 
and for keeping abreast of current advances are too great. 
If he can, however, teach adequately some subject of vital 
present interest akin to his Biblical work, he will do a 
needed service to Christian life and will bring to his Bible 
study the richness of his contact with modern prob- 
lems. 



Qualities IsTeeded iisr the Biblical Teacher 23 



V. Qualities Needed in the Biblical Teacher 

A work so exacting is of necessity exacting in its de- 
mands of qualification and equipment.^ Personality 
counts for more in the teaching of Bible than in most sub- 
jects. Another quality specially needed is initiative and 
resourcefulness. The subject is new in colleges. The 
traditions of its teaching are still unformed. Experi- 
ments must be tried. Methods better than any yet de- 
vised will still be discovered. Few college subjects offer 
so much field for the spirit of pioneering. The subject 
should appeal to the person who loves to follow his own 
paths, provided he has the skill to make them attractive 
paths to others. For the rest, the qualities called for are 
those which make a successful teacher anywhere ; power 
of sympathy, patience with slow and even with careless 
students, ability for inspired leadership, capacity to think 
clearly and to express thought simply, and a love of gain- 
ing and imparting knowledge. The teacher must be far 
more than a mere student. Ease of gaining knowledge 
does not in itself make a teacher. It may even be a 
hindrance, for it may cause a feeling of impatient con- 
tempt for those more slow in mental processes. The good 
teacher usually finds himself thinking more of his stu- 
dents and of how he may make his subject plain to them, 
as the years go on. The class room is a delight, not a 
bore to him. He finds the hour all too short. He counts 
the recitation a failure if he has not carried the interest 
of every student every minute. He cultivates simplicity, 
for he knows that obscurity is not profundity. In a great 
subject he chooses the essentials for teaching. His most 
carefully considered problem is what to leave out. He 

* See an excellent article on Training the College Teacher of 
Biblical Literature by Professor C. F. Kent, in Religious Education, 
Vol. X, No. 4, pp. 327-332. The same number contains other arti- 
cles of interest to the candidate for Biblical teaching. 



24 Biblical, Teaching iisr School and College 

knows that sooner or later every subject relates itself to 
life. He desires above all two things: that the student 
shall understand the subject, and that he shall see its rela- 
tion to life. In short, a good^ teacher loves to teach. That 
is the quality with which he begins. Then he takes in- 
finite pains with his own scholarship and with his teach- 
ing methods. These things count more than mere scholar- 
ship in the success of a teacher. 

VI. Scholastic Preparation for the Biblical 

Teacher 

Scholastic preparation for this field of teaching may 
well begin in college. It should of course include Latin 
and Greek, the latter with especial thoroughness. Like 
the specialist in all fields, the teacher of Bible needs 
French and German. If he can begin Hebrew in college 
that will save time later, but it should not be at the expense 
of other essentials. History, especially Ancient and Ori- 
ental, is necessary, and still more necessary is familiarity 
with the spirit and method of modern historical study. 
Also indispensable are the methods of literary criticism 
and the power of literary appreciation, for these belong 
to all literature alike. A course in some natural science 
should give the spirit of modern scientific study. The 
history of philosophy is valuable, and, for teaching the 
structure of Christian thought, necessary. Ethics will be 
needed for the study of Biblical ethics. One of the fields 
of greatest interest in Biblical studies at present is the 
social ethics of the Bible, and especially of Jesus. A 
knowledge of present social theories is essential for com- 
parison. If the history of religion or religious education 
can be studied it will be helpful. 

Some of these subjects must be postponed to the years 
of graduate study. For graduate study two plans are open. 
The student may go to a theological school. If this be the 
decision a school should be chosen which has special facili- 



Scholastic Preparation for th^ Teacher 25 

ties for preparation for teaching. So much special prepa- 
ration is necessary that the ordinary studies best fitted for 
the preacher will not allow time for what is needed. The 
teacher is not a preacher and the preparation for the two, 
identical at some points, is diverse at others. The second 
plan is to seek preparation at one of the Universities 
which emphasize Biblical studies. Formerly such studies 
could only be found in a theological school; now several 
of the larger universities provide excellent graduate work 
in this field. Personal circumstances must decide which 
of these two plans is followed. If the theological school is 
chosen, it opens the way for the teacher to add to his teach- 
ing work occasional service in the pulpit. He must never 
yield to the temptation of allowing this to burden his 
teaching. Especially must he refuse to take the care of 
a church during his teaching year. Time and strength 
do not allow a man to be both teacher and pastor. If he 
has chosen to put his life into his class room he must re- 
nounce the joys of the pastorate. His preaching must be 
incidental and secondary, only to help out churches and 
ministerial friends in time of need. Nor must he allow 
his preparation to give him the preaching attitude toward 
the Bible, the homiletical type of mind. He must not be 
looking for ^^lessons'' and ^"^applications." He must rather 
search to find exactly what the writers of these books were 
trying to say. 

The Bible teacher must have a thorough knowledge of 
Hebrew, Biblical Aramaic and Hellenistic Greek. The 
present tendency is to minimize these in a pastor's prepa- 
ration — more's the pity. But the teacher must never omit 
them. Can you imagine a man devoting his life to teach- 
ing French literature with no knowledge of French ? Of 
course there can be no Biblical scholarship worthy the 
name without a knowledge of the Biblical languages. The 
teacher, if possessed of any particular linguistic ability, 
should have an especially thorough knowledge of either 
Hebrew or Hellenistic Greek. If specializing in Hebrew 



26 Biblical. Teaching ik School and College 

lie should know at least one other Semitic language for 
comparison; Arabic for its richness of literature and vo- 
cabularjj or Assyrian for its light on the Old Testament, 
or Syriac for its use in New Testament versions. If spe- 
cializing in Hellenistic Greek he should read largely in 
the Septuagint and in the Apostolic fathers and in the 
newly discovered Greek writings of the Hellenistic period 
in Egypt. In most college work this knowledge is not for 
direct teaching, but for the background and foundation 
of his own scholarly work. Further foundation should be 
laid in familiarity with Oriental geography and history, 
especially of the Semitic races; the course of events and 
their causes; the customs, religious and political ideas, 
habits of thought, and national points of view at the dif- 
ferent stages of the Semitic development. He must know 
Babylonian literature and law for comparison with the 
Bible. In connection with the l^ew Testament he must 
know Philo and Jewish- Alexandrian thought and the po- 
litical and social life of the early Christian world. 

He should emphasize Hebrew History and Biblical In- 
troduction. The great body of his teaching is likely to lie 
within these fields. He should know especially the spirit 
and method of prophecy; the prophetic and priestly edit- 
ing of ancient tradition and more recent story in the nar- 
rative books ; the point of view of the Hebrew sages, the 
writers of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiasticus and 
the Wisdom of Solomon; the origin, growth and contents 
of Apocalyptic Literature, Biblical and extra-Biblical ; the 
thrilling history of the Maccabees ; the intricacies of Gos- 
pel relations; the teaching of Jesus and the thought of 
Paul. These are only the larger outlines of the Biblical 
subjects which must be known to the teacher. Even these 
will have to be, at some points, merely sketched in dur- 
ing his preparation and filled out later. Above all, his 
study must yield him on one hand power to appreciate 
and ability to work with the purpose and method of mod- 
ern Biblical scholarship, and on the other, an apprecia- 



Scholastic PREPARATioisr for the Teacher 27 

tion of the spiritual content. of the Bible and of the abid- 
ing value of its religious principles in the life of all the 
ages. It is this abiding value "which takes the Bible out 
of mere ancient literature and sets it in the center of 
modern life. 

In speaking above of the cognate subjects which some- 
times fall to the college teacher of Bible, something was 
said regarding the preparation needed to teach them. 
Each has its own field and might well call for as extensive 
preparation as Bible teaching itself. 

It will be seen that an adequate preparation to teach 
the Bible is more than the equivalent of a Ph.D. course in 
the best universities. Now a doctorate has no scholastic 
magic of its own. N"either if he has a Ph. D. is a teacher 
the better nor if he has it not is he the worse, but it is at 
present in America a sort of hall-mark of scholarship. 
The teacher of the Bible cannot afford to work with a 
lower grade of scholarship than that for which it stands. 
But no matter how thorough his knowledge of his subject, 
he will say with the scientist Agassiz, ^The longer I live 
the more I know that I know nothing." 



PART II 
EXECUTIVES FOE CHRISTIAN ENTERPRISES 

By 

DwiGHT H. Day 



MODERN CHRISTIAN 
CALLINGS 

EXECUTIVES FOR CHEISTIAN ENTEKPEISES 

EXECUTIVE Officers are necessary in any organized 
enterprise requiring administration, from a Presi- 
dent for the United States to an Executive Secretary 
for a small Committee, — if that Committee proposes to do 
things. Some one, duly chosen, must be regularly availa- 
ble, charged with the responsibility of carrying out the pro- 
gram and decisions of the body behind him, be it Gov- 
ernment, Board of Directors, Trustees, or Committeemen. 

Thus, Christian enterprises, some of them organized on 
a vast scale, with connections in every country of the globe, 
must have their Executives, generally called Secretaries 
and Treasurers. The best known and strongest of these 
avowedly Christian organizations are the Boards or Ex- 
ecutive Committees established by the Protestant Church 
bodies or Denominations for conducting and supervising 
the work which they as Church bodies desire to promote 
and support. The activities thus represented cover a wide 
field, in fact their field is world-wide. 

There are Boards of Domestic or Home Missions, with 
field representatives scattered from Point Barrow, Alaska, 
the most northerly Mission station in the world, to the 
tropical possessions of the United States in Porto Rico 
and Panama. They work among the various foreign 
groups in Continental United States, among the Indians 
and rural communities, among backward and neglected 
people, such as the Whites in the Southern Mountains, 
in great industrial centers and among special labor groups, 

3 



4 Executives for Christian Enterprises 

like that of the lumber- jacks of the Northwest. In some 
cases these Home Mission Boards are charged also with 
work among the Negroes in the United States, while in 
others special Boards are set up for this purpose. Some 
of the Home Mission Boards are authorized to extend their 
activities to South America. Other Church Boards and 
Agencies organized to promote special lines of activity 
or to take charge of special funds would include the fol- 
lowing : 

Boards of Education, charged with establishing and 
maintaining denominational Colleges, Boards of Aid for 
Ministers of the Churches and their families, Trustees 
of Pension Funds and of Insurance Funds for the Min- 
istry, Boards organized especially to aid in the erection 
of Churches in new or sparsely-settled communities, 
Boards for the printing and publication of Christian litera- 
ture, some of them owning large establishments, Boards 
of Temperance, Boards or Committees on Evangelism, 
Sabbath Observance, on Men's Work in the Churches, — 
a great variety of administrative agencies, all deriving 
their authority from the various denominational Church 
bodies. 

Perhaps the largest and most influential group among 
these Church enterprises is that representing Foreign Mis- 
sions. At the meeting of the Foreign Missions Conference 
of North America, held in January 1922, sixty-two For- 
eign Mission Boards of the United States and Canada 
were represented by one hundred and seventy-five regular 
delegates, and one hundred and twenty-six corresponding 
members, who assembled in their annual meeting for the 
consideration and discussion of common problems. These 
North American Boards now expend more than $40,000,- 
000 in Foreign Mission work annually, and maintain on 
the foreign field some 13,000 missionaries. 

Concerning Foreign Mission administrators, one writer 
says : ^ ^^The conduct of Missions in heathen and Moham- 

1 "The Foreign Missionary," Arthur J. Brown. 



Executives for Christian Enterprises 5 

medan countries has risen to the dignity of a science, only 
to be learned by long and continuous practice, discussion, 
reading and reflection; it is the occupation of the whole 
life, and of many hours of each day of many able men 
selected for the particular purpose by the turn of their 
own minds, and the conviction of their colleagues that they 
have a special fitness for the duty/' 

Dr. William W. Clarke says that ^^in respect of re- 
sponsibility and laboriousness, there is scarcely any other 
Christian service that is comparable to that of the officers 
of such Societies. Foreign Mission (Board) Secretaries 
have to conduct a work of which the delicacy and difficulty 
are very largely unappreciated. It can scarcely be other- 
wise^ for very few persons know missionary operations 
from the outside, and most Christians have no experience 
that would help them to enter into the problems of the 
Missionary Board.'' ^ 

It is, indeed, true that a very wide range of responsi- 
bility gives to these Executive Ofiicers opportunity for 
service which, in its variety, its inspirations, and its solid 
satisfactions, it Would be difficult to match. ^^There is 
probably no other organization in the world," said Dr. Ed- 
win M. Bliss, ^^except a national government, that carries 
on so varied and as important lines of business as does 
a Foreign Missionary Society." 

It becomes necessary, however, to go deeper than these 
generalizations, especially if it is true that few know 
anything about Foreign Mission administration from the 
outside, and if most Christians have had no experience 
with the problems involved. 'No comparison can be made 
between the work of the Executives of such organizations 
and that of other callings or professions until one under- 
stands more definitely what the various phases of the work 
are and what is expected of the incumbent of the executive 
position. 

It may be assumed that as the Foreign Mission enter- 
i"A Study of Christian Missions." 



6 Executives for Christian" Enterprises 

prise is the largest and most inclusive with regard to the 
scope of its activities of any of the organizations in the 
category of Christian enterprises, a description of the de- 
tails of the work covered by the Executive Officers of a 
typical Foreign Mission Board will, for all practical pur- 
poses, include what might be written about that of any 
or all the other Boards and Agencies. This would include 
a great institution like the American Bible Society as well, 
more than one hundred years old, which sends the Bible 
out to all the world at the rate of 5,000,000 volumes a year. 
Modifications would need to be made in the case of 
this or that organization; one would include a certain 
phase of work, and another some other phase, but all have 
much in common especially in dealing with their support- 
ing constituencies, in their promotional work, and in their 
finance and banking practice. A large Foreign Board 
administers practically every kind of work abroad that is 
conducted by all the other Boards and Agencies at home, 
and does it thousands of miles distant from the areas where 
the impact is made. It does this through the media of 
many strange languages and dialects and with the help 
of the natives of each country working among their 
own people under the supervision and direction, in the 
initial stages, of leaders or missionaries sent out for that 
purpose. Christian education under one Board, for in- 
stance, is represented by 1,800 Schools and Colleges, 
planted in fifteen foreign countries. Medical and surgical 
work, public health and hygiene, sanitation and dietetics 
radiate from two hundred hospitals and dispensaries. 
Evangelism and the establishing of Churches is under the 
care of 3,000 native evangelists and ministers supported 
by a native Christian constituency of a million members. 
Publishing of Christian literature centers in eight great 
Printing Presses, strategically placed throughout Asia, 
which pour forth a hundred million pages each year. The 
cause of temperance is promoted, orphanages and rescue 
homes are maintained, schools for the blind and for the 



Executives for Christian Eis'terpeises 7 

deaf are established. Lepers are segregated from the pop- 
ulation and are given asylum in institutions specially pro- 
vided. Famine funds are raised and administered, epi- 
demics are fought and floods are dealt with and studied 
by agricultural and forestry schools, with a view to their 
prevention. All these lines of activity tie up in the final 
analysis to the administrators and executives in the head 
offices in the homeland. These men and women must 
have both knowledge and experience, in some measure at 
least, of all these endeavors, and must be able to advise 
their Boards of Directors and the field representatives con- 
cerning them. 

The mass of correspondence is immense, emanating from 
twenty-seven separate and distinct Missions and from 
1,600 missionaries in the case of the typical Board under 
examination, and this relates only to the foreign side 
of the work. On the other side is the constituency in 
the homeland, 1,700,000 Church members, in 10,000 
Churches, no inconsiderable portion of whom are inter- 
ested in the service and are supporting it, and hence con- 
tribute a heavy grist of mail. This runs from fifty to a 
thousand letters a day which are distributed among the 
various executives and departments according to the divi- 
sion of work among them. The bulk of the mail is made 
up of remittances in the form of checks, drafts, money 
orders, cash and credit items, each one of which must be 
dealt with in five distinct and separate operations before 
the receipt for it is committed to the Post Office for de- 
livery to the donor ; but letters on special problems in the 
Missions, on general Mission policy, on matters relating 
to the welfare of the Missionary force, on the relations 
between ]\Iissions and Governments, on cooperative and 
union enterprises with similar Boards, such as the twelve 
or more union Colleges and Universities, on questions of 
denominational Church policy, which include the interests 
of Foreign Missions, on the presentation of the cause to 
the people at home by means of books, current literature 



8 Executives for Christian Enterprises 

and the public platform, — all furnish a voluminous cor- 
respondence which can scarcely be digested during regular 
hours. Few executive officers allied with these interests 
expect to compass their work except by continuing it in 
their homes during the evening, as thousands of workers 
in other lines do and they are occasionally accused of 
breaking the Fourth Commandment because they prosecute 
the same lines on the Sabbath. Whether their accusers 
are to be classed with the mint and anise tithers of Christ's 
time, who ignored the spirit of the law in their meticulous 
observance of its letter, or whether the indictment is indeed 
a valid one on the ground of their doing work on the 
Sabbath Day, which must be regarded as secular because 
they are doing it also on the other days of the week, may 
wisely be left to the conscience of the individuals con- 
cerned. 

There are roughly three categories into which the prob- 
lems arising on the field and referred to the Home Office 
may be divided. First, questions of Mission policy and 
procedure ; second, matters of emergency, largely relating 
to the work of individual missionaries or their health, and 
third, appeals for funds for the extension of the work 
or for the strengthening of that already established. The 
executive in the administrative office must analyze a pro- 
posal affecting Mission policy and must present the con- 
siderations which affect it, pro and con, to his colleagues 
in a Council or Cabinet and then to the Board itself for 
decision. The decision must rest not only upon the con- 
dition of the Treasury, but upon the great body of ex- 
perience and tradition built up through a hundred years 
of history, and the foreign mission administrator must 
be familiar with the principles and practice of Foreign 
Missions which have been successfully applied, as well 
as with the mistakes which have caused loss and some- 
times disaster. For instance, in a field where the Chris- 
tian community has grown to large proportions, shall the 
Schools partly supported by Mission funds accept the chil- 



Executives for CnRiSTiAisr Ei^^terprises 9 

dren of native Christians only, or shall the children of 
non-Christians and heathen parents also be accepted ? On 
this question a Mission took one view and its Secretary 
and Board the other. The historic precedents and inter- 
pretations of experience were presented by the executive 
in charge of the correspondence with the Mission con- 
cerned.< 

What proportion of the available funds shall be devoted 
to the evangelistic work in a district and what to the edu- 
cational and to the medical? What degree of responsi- 
bility and power shall be passed over to the rising Churches 
of Christ in the Mission field with reference to the work 
still to be done, and what shall be the criterion as to just 
when this transfer shall take place? Such questions rep- 
resent live issues to the Missions on the field, and notwith- 
standing the fact that they are given a large degree of 
autonomy in the conduct of the work they look to the Sec- 
retary and the Board at home for guidance and for final 
decisions in such matters. Emergency cases may largely 
be handled in the light of a body of rules and regulations 
which has grown up through the years covering similar 
cases and in conformity with precedents which have been 
established. What are the conditions precedent to the 
withdrawal from the field on sick leave ? If a missionary 
proves to be a misfit, what steps can be taken to prove 
the fact to him, in case he does not discover it himself, 
and secure his resignation or transfer to some other work ? 
In dealing with these problems of the personnel the ad- 
ministrative officer at home is more than an interpreter 
of rules, although he must be that. He is the sympathetic 
friend in whom the troubled one confides and the counselor 
to advise in the presence of anxiety or doubt. Here is a 
missionary with a wife and two or three children of school 
age at home on furlough. The children ought to remain 
in the United States to complete their education. Shall 
the husband and father return to the field alone, leaving 
the wife and mother to care for the children, or shall 



10 Executives for Christian Enterprises 

the children be placed in boarding schools while both wife 
and husband return to the field, or shall the husband re- 
bign trom his work as a missionary and remain with his 
family? This problem is sure to involve a good deal of 
anguish of soul, not only for the missionary, but for the 
administrative officer having charge of the Mission to 
which he belongs. 

Or a young worker on the field finds his faith gone; 
he no longer has zeal in his work. He had thought that 
he believed in God and His revelation in Jesus Christ, 
but he must have been mistaken; at least he no longer 
possesses such belief and he doesn't feel happy nor honest 
in retaining his position — perhaps in one of the Schools 
or Colleges. He can't, somehow, tell his colleagues on 
the field, but he writes to his secretary at home, and lays 
bare his heart in even deeper anguish than his brother 
with the growing family. Whatever fund of experience 
and wisdom the executive may possess he will regard it 
as inadequate for this draft upon it. Is the doctrine of 
the perseverance of the saints a myth, or is the young 
man temporarily thrown off his balance by over-wrought 
nerves ? Perhaps he needs only a three months' vacation 
in a cooler climate. Countless personal problems arise 
nearer home in connection with the young men and women 
volunteers who have registered as candidates for mis- 
sionary service abroad. The roster of one Board contains 
5,000 names of such young people in the midst of their 
preparation, or carrying on work temporarily at home until 
the conditions shall warrant their appointment and assign- 
ment to a Mission abroad. Every executive officer could 
bear testimony to the inspiration of knowing and dealing 
with these devoted young spirits. The glow on the face 
of a young engineer, who on his knees in prayer finally 
came to his decision to go to China as a missionary, 
abundantly compensates the executive officer who knelt 
with him for other moments and days of routine work, 
necessarily devoid of any inherent inspiration. Fur- 



Executives for Christian Enterprises 11 

loughed missionaries from every country of the world 
having crossed the seven seas pass through the executive 
offices to their havens in the homeland, bringing not only 
their personal problems and their plans and hopes for 
some particular work on the field which they want to 
discuss and in all of which the executive oflacer is happy 
to share, but also direct and reliable information con- 
cerning political, social, economic and religious conditions 
in the countries where they have been working. The editor 
of a well-known magazine published in New York called 
at the offices of a Board and asked whether by any chance 
help could be given her in connection with an article which 
she was expecting to publish on ^^Tobacco Smoking in 
Asia." She asked particularly about smoking in Korea and 
without much hope wondered whether some photographs of 
native types which she bad secured could be identified and 
explained. Within a few minutes she was given a full 
and accurate statement on the subject and proper legends 
for the pictures. Then with increasing surprise and grati- 
tude on the part of the editor exact information was given 
her regarding similar conditions in Mesopotamia, China 
and Siam. It had been possible immediately to get facts 
from first hand observers which otherwise it might have 
taken months and much correspondence to secure. 

The third category among the problems arising on the 
field and referred to executive officers and Boards com- 
prises the needs and appeals for funds. Foreign Mission 
Boards long ago adopted the Budget System for financing 
current needs and the established work (anticipating by 
many decades the Government of the United States in this 
regard) , but even Budgets, efficient and economical as they 
are, have their difficulties as both the Boards and the Gov- 
ernment have discovered ; and in their ability to pare down 
and eliminate unessential items the officers of the Govern- 
ment may well envy the executives of the Boards. These 
executives must bring the total Budget, made up of the 
estimates from all the Missions, within the limits of rea- 



12 Executives for Christian Enterprises 

sonable expectations of receipts from the constituency. 
Funds are appropriated covering the Budget as finally 
approved and the Missions are free to expend the money 
during the fiscal year on the work outlined. This system 
saves the missionary from any dread lest the funds which 
he requires for the work or for any institution under his 
care will not be forthcoming and enables him to plan for 
it in the confidence that it will not be suddenly interrupted 
or embarrassed for lack of current support. However, 
there are always a multitude of needs that cannot be cov- 
ered within the Budget and these the Missions carefully 
sift and present to the Board through their executives. 
In large part these special items represent proposed addi- 
tions to property and equipment and the cost of planting 
new Mission stations and otherwise extending the work. 
A Board with a Budget of $4,500,000.00 received Prop- 
erty Lists totaling $9,000,000.00, all itemized and de- 
scribed in detail. 

No executive can escape the responsibility which rests 
upon him for securing the funds required. If he is wise 
he will not attempt to do so, nor shrink from a task which 
will open to him large opportunities for service. He must 
take his stand upon his belief in the cause and in the 
merits of the appeal and he will find that every talent 
of which he may be the possessor may not only be em- 
ployed, but will be developed and enlarged^ He will be 
forced irresistibly out of his office to face his share of the 
public in order that he may give information and instruc- 
tion and perhaps impart inspiration in matters which 
have come to be of vital concern to him. From his vantage 
point he sees on the one hand a more or less thoughtless, 
ease-and-pleasure-loving people, enjoying luxuries without 
thanksgiving, provincial, living in a false sense of isolated 
security without responsibility to the rest of mankind, 
and on the other he sees the world in need ; in need of 
what the fortunate can with so little individual sacrifice 
be the means of supplying. He sees also the Foreign 



Executives for Cheistian Enterprises 13 

Missionary at his work, putting into it his whole life, 
one hundred per cent, and yet his efficiency cut down to 
perhaps eighty per cent of capacity for lack of suitable 
and adequate equipment. This condition obtains far too 
frequently and the Board executive realizes more vividly 
than any one else, than even the missionary himself, what 
the cure is. So he prepares himself by reading, study and 
travel to educate the constituency to an appreciation of 
its responsibilities and opportunities, and to a larger meas- 
ure of financial support. His reading and study will cover 
a wide range, for the century and a quarter of modern 
Missions have produced a literature rich in biography, in 
the history of nations developing under the inspiration 
of Christian Missions and in accounts of the various poli- 
cies followed throughout the experimental stages of the 
Missionary enterprise. It must not be all historical read- 
ing, but current books and magazines must be given their 
place in the time and study of the executive. The at- 
mosphere in which Missions are conducted during these 
years of the Twentieth Century is very different from that 
of the nineties, or even of a decade later. Nations and 
Governments are coming to understand that the world is 
one; merchants and bankers proclaim it most insistently. 
It is rather a new idea for many, however, and some have 
not yet grasped it, but the Foreign Missionary enterprise 
has been asserting it for a hundred years; that is its 
fundamental axiom. Nowadays publicists, statesmen and 
Governments are working on this principle and the daily 
paper with its many items of international news is un- 
consciously promoting the cause of Foreign Missions. The 
Board executive, therefore, must be alert to the news from 
abroad and must be able to interpret it and point out its 
significance to his audiences. 

No amount of study, however, or the mere reading of 
reports of national and international activities can ever 
furnish the Foreign, Mission executive with the first hand 
knowledge and information that he must have if he is 



14 Executives for CnRisTiAisr Ei^terprises 

to be a strong advocate of the cause. He must visit the 
Mission field himself, must enter into the life of the mis- 
sionaries for a time, however brief, and he must come 
into contact with the people among whom the work is 
being done. He must inspect and study the institutions 
that have been established in their midst. He can then 
speak with confidence on his subject and he will be re- 
ceived as an authority. 

Other purposes are served, however, by visitation of the 
field than those which redound so directly to the advantage 
of the ofiicer who makes the trip. The missionary forces 
on the field are able to counsel with him regarding their 
work; he sees the needs himself, can appraise at first 
hand the plans that may be proposed for enlargement and 
extension and can report on them from personal knowledge 
to the Board and to the Church. He takes a fresh message 
of brotherly interest and sympathy from the Church at 
home to the Church in the Mission field and returns with 
messages of greetings and appreciation from the Christians 
in the younger Churches abroad to the supporters in the 
homeland. It is now an accepted principle of foreign 
administration that executives should make periodical in- 
spections of the Mission fields and as frequently as cir- 
cumstances will permit. He is fortunate, indeed, who 
travels not with the burden of a salesman, nor with the 
selfish motive of an exploiter, nor, indeed, listlessly, as 
a mere sight-seer, without purpose, but as one commis- 
sioned for a serious and exalted errand as an emissary 
of good will. 

Men thus equipped by study, by travel and by experi- 
ence in office are naturally in demand as speakers and 
can secure all the appointments they are able to accept. 
If they are also good wielders of the pen they will have 
access to magazines, both religious and secular, and not 
infrequently to the columns of the daily newspaper. 
Scores of books have been published by executives on 
Missions and allied subjects. 



Executives for Christiai^ Enterprises 15 

Promotional work of this character is common to the 
executives of practically all the enterprises, which have 
been named, any differences being due to varying phases 
of Christian work which the organization undertakes and 
the propaganda that is required. 

Executives in charge of the treasury and of the fiscal 
operations of the organization have under their supervision 
the bookkeeping and accounting which, after the manner 
of an exact science, concentrates millions of receipts and 
disbursements, reducing them to epitomes or reports, 
which tell the tale of surplus or deficit for the period 
under review. Domestic and foreign banking include re- 
lationships with the largest banking institutions in the 
world at home and abroad. Local deposits will run at 
times over the million mark and at others depleted balances 
must be strengthened by loans which may be equally large 
and which are very costly in interest charges. The ex- 
ecutive has no difficulty in obtaining credit for his or- 
ganization as bankers have come to understand that no 
loans are safer than those undertaken by such Boards and 
Agencies. Likewise in the sale of foreign exchange, their 
drafts are readily accepted all over the world and local 
currency is willingly turned over by merchants and money 
changers to the field treasurers in exchange for their paper. 
The drivers of the caravans coming down out of China 
crossing Burmah to Rangoon are as ready to deliver their 
coin to the missionary treasurer in exchange for his drafts 
on New York as are the international bankers of Yoko- 
hama, Hong Kong or Bombay. The dozen or more curren- 
cies in which the business is transacted become familiar 
media of exchange, whether Rupees, Pice and Annas, or 
Tomans and Piastres, Turkish pounds or British pounds, 
Pesos or Milreis, Ticals or Yen, or China ^^Mexicans." 
The Board executive is as good a guesser as the foreign 
exchange expert in trying to gauge future rates and he 
comes to understand that the Gold standard cannot be 
introduced into China until the Chinese are willing to re- 



16 Executives for Christiajst Enteepeises 

linquish the exciting and profitable calling of gambling 
in their currency, which is based on the price of Silver 
as a commodity. When international exchange is inter- 
rupted as during the World War, the United States Gov- 
ernment and American business organizations are ready to 
cooperate with Boards in getting their remittances to the 
Missions. In 1915 a cruiser took a consignment of Gold 
to Beirut when that port was inaccessible by the ordinary 
means of communication and the Standard Oil Company 
paid over to the Mission Treasurer at Beirut $100,000.00 
of its collections in the ITear East, thus making the cash 
available for relief and Mission work. An equivalent 
amount was paid by the Board in 'New York to the 
Treasurer of the Company; both organizations then had 
their funds where they wanted them and the only cost 
was the cable advice. 

Some $2,000,000.00 of relief funds for Syrians alone 
were received by one of the Board treasuries in l^ew York 
from remitters in the United States to be distributed to 
their relatives and friends in the Near East through Mis- 
sion representatives. The sums were in small amounts 
individually and the delivery of the money to the con- 
signees was often attended by the greatest difficulty and 
sometimes by danger. The designations were in some 
cases indefinite and it was all but impossible to locate 
the proper party. The following examples tell the story: 

^^$50.00 for Yusef Haddad, living in or near 
the War zone.'' 

''$20.00 for Hanna Khoury, Assyria.'' 

''$40.00 from Daoud Teen of Ohio to his 
mother in Syria." 

"$50.00 for Abdullah Ghanim, Beirut. He 
is 5^ feet high and must wear glasses on hia 
eyes to see you." 

"$50.00 for Marian Tannous, which amount 
is to be delivered with a thousand kisses." 



Executives foe Christian' Enterprises 17 

Executives of these Christian enterprises must handle 
property of every kind and description. The investment 
in land, buildings and equipment may total $10,000,000.00 
for one Board alone and the home office must assume 
ultimate responsibility for its care and proper main- 
tenance. Complete records of these properties must be 
kept on file and up to date, and as the plants are located 
all over the world the business in real estate has a wide 
range. Besides these holdings there is the handling of 
every kind and description of property left to the Boards 
under Wills and turned over to them on the settlement 
of estates. There are town lots and improved city real 
estate, including business blocks; there is suburban and 
country real estate, improved and unimproved; agricultu- 
ral lands, including farms with livestock and complete 
equipment; coal mines, oil and timber land; securities 
of all kinds, bonds, mortgages, stock of corporations, per- 
sonal belongings, including family heirlooms and trinkets, 
everything, in fact, that may be included in a residuary 
estate. All such property must be sold as quickly as this 
can be done to advantage and the proceeds devoted to the 
work, but until then it must be safeguarded and con- 
served. In connection with these bequests and devises 
there is legal and probate work and, unfortunately, some- 
times litigation. A Board may be a participant in half a 
dozen lawsuits at the same time in various parts of the 
country since as a trustee it is bound to defend its rights 
under Wills if they are challenged. Any legal training 
which the Board officer may have had will stand him 
in good stead, though, of course, he will have the aid of 
competent attorneys often rendered without any charge 
whatever. 

Transactions in investment securities, chiefly on the 
buying side, to secure endowment funds run into several 
million dollars for a single Board. This business and 
the handling of securities for the personnel of the organi- 
zation, chiefly the missionaries and other workers in the 



18 Executives for Cheistiais^ Et^terprises 

field, attains large proportions. The larger offices have 
travel departments by which much business in transporta- 
tion is transacted, the purchase of railroad and steamship 
tickets aggregating $75,000.00 or $100,000.00 a year. 
One traveler appeared at such an ofiice with the statement 
that he had been sent by Thomas Cook & Son ^^as the 
Board knows more about getting out to Persia than we 
do,'' said they. A Purchasing and Shipping Department 
must also be maintained to purchase and ship everything 
from a needle to blooded cattle, — ^the latter for the big 
Agricultural Colleges. 

The opportunity is always open to the executive officer 
to take the initiative in planning better things for his 
organization, effecting combinations and consolidations, 
introducing better methods and more efficient practice. 
Twenty-eight local treasuries of one Board in as many 
different towns or villages in China were consolidated at 
Shanghai and the consolidated office was then united with 
the treasuries of eight other Boards into an Associated 
Mission Treasurers' Office, which now sells $6,000,000.00 
of exchange a year. Such an institution commands not 
only the profound respect of the business community, but 
the best rates on foreign exchange as well. Board execu- 
tives have been instrumental in establishing united archi- 
tectural and buildings bureaus in the Ear East, by means 
of which a large number of Boards and Agencies are able 
to get better architecture for Mission buildings and better 
and more economical construction. 

Among the points of a good job Dr. Richard C. Cabot 
names seven, balanced variety and monotony, initiative 
and supervision, the chance to subjugate nature or per- 
sonally to create something, pleasant companionship, a 
title and an institutional connection. ^^These," he says, 
^^go far to give us happiness in work." ^ Every one of 
these ''standards" the executive of a Christian enterprise 

1 "What Men Live By," Boston, 1914, pp. 27-28. 



Executives for Christiat^ .Enterprises 19 

possesses, and it would be difficult to find a happier set 
of workers. A prominent lawyer in I^ew York asked 
an executive how it came about that he knew all the 
big men and the best men in the city. His reply was from 
the heart : "Because I am in the best work in the world." 



PAET ni 
OPPORTUNITIES FOE SOCIAL WORK 

By 

William Bacon Bailey 



The purpose of the following pages is to acquaint the 
college man very briefly with some of the opportunities 
for employment in social work. The list is by no means 
complete. Many entire lines of activity, such as Public 
Health Nursing, the work of Civic Protective Associa- 
tions, Orphan Asylums, and Women's Reformatories, have 
been omitted because the workers in these lines are almost 
entirely women. The attempt has been made to divide 
the field of work according to the service rendered, but it 
is realized that this division is quite arbitrary, and that 
these lines cannot be sharply drawn. If these pages offer 
a bird's-eye view of the field in sufficient detail to enable 
a student to select a line of work with a fairly satisfac- 
tory idea as to its extent and possibilities, the purpose of 
the writer has been accomplished. 



MODERN CHRISTIAN 
CALLINGS 

OPPOETUNITIES FOR SOCIAL WORK 

THERE are many young men in the schools of higher 
education in this country who desire for a life work 
some form of altruistic endeavor, who desire whole- 
heartedly to consecrate their lives to the service of hu- 
manity, and yet from justifiable motives shrink from 
service in foreign mission fields or the Christian minis- 
try. They wish to know the opportunities included within 
the wide field of social service. They are anxious to 
choose the line of work to which they are best fitted, and in 
which their special aptitudes will find the largest field for 
usefulness. But few of these young men possess an inde- 
pendent income and they must select a line of work in 
which the financial return is commensurate with their 
training, ability and industry, and in which there is op- 
portunity for the security of employment and advance- 
ment assured by conscientious effort in other lines of en- 
deavor. They do not expect to gain great wealth, or the 
large financial return of those who are conspicuously suc- 
cessful in trade or manufacture. In fact, a large share 
of their reward will come from the satisfaction that they 
have made brighter the life of some unfortunate, or done 
their share to mitigate some social injustice. But they 
are anxious to avoid the blind alley which leads nowhere, 
and in which the nature of the employment precludes ad- 
vancement. 

During the Middle Ages religious motives undoubtedly 

3 



4 OpPORTUIiriTIES FOR SoCIAL WoRK 

led some to withdraw from the world and its pleasures, 
and through an ascetic life of fasting and prayer hope to 
attain conspicuous virtue. But there has probably never 
been a time in which the desire to improve the lot of the 
more unfortunate members of society has not been a mov- 
ing force in the lives of many. The motive may have been 
sympathy^ or a sense of justice. It was felt by most that 
if the misery of the world was to be relieved^ this could 
be accomplished not by a life of seclusion, but by active 
service. Because during the Middle Ages most of the 
charitable enterprises were in the hands of the church, 
most of the philanthropic work was done by members of 
religious orders. This was a natural development since 
the church stressed the duty of caring for the poor and 
needy, and since the impulse to do good works was 
strengthened by the inspiration of religious teaching. 
Aside from the instruction given to the Sisters who de- 
voted themselves to nursing the sick, there was little sys- 
tematic training in preparation for social and philan- 
thropic work. At the close of this period a few names, like 
Tuke, Howard and Florence Nightingale, stand forth. 
They were pioneers in correcting some of the abuses of 
the time and introduced scientific principles and humane 
treatment of the sick and unfortunate, particularly of 
those in institutions. It has been only within the last 
hundred years that the field of social work has been 
mapped out and the principles of scientific treatment 
slowly developed. As a result of study and the exchange 
of ideas through conferences, methods of work have grad- 
ually become standardized. Methods of procedure which 
twenty-five or fifty years ago were the subjects of dif- 
ference of opinion and active discussion have gradually 
become accepted and standardized. As in the develop- 
ment of any field of scientific work, the progress has been 
accomplished by a large number of students and investi- 
gators in different fields until there has been collected a 
large amount of reliable data. This has been collated and 



Opportunities por Social Work 5 

systematized until the general principles underlying so- 
cial work are recognized and available for the student. 
The field of study was extremely difficult and complex be- 
cause it was impossible for the investigator to separate in- 
dividuals from their environment. The physicist and 
chemist can study his elements in a laboratory under what- 
ever conditions he sees fit to place them. The social 
worker, however, meets his problems among humanity in 
an ever changing world. We can never be certain of the 
reactions where the elements are human beings with the 
world for a crucible. 

Although we can never look for the positivity of the 
physical sciences, we have a sufficient body of knowledge 
for the formulation of rules of practice in most fields of 
social work. Although we may not expect entire agree- 
ment among social workers as to the treatment of any par- 
ticular problem, yet it is possible to formulate general 
rules governing the collection of the evidence bearing upon 
the question in hand, to assist in diagnosis and treatment. 

As in the early days in this country one who would be- 
come a lawyer entered the office of an attorney and ac- 
quired a legal education and training in this way, so one 
who would engage in any form of social work found it 
necessary to become connected with some organization or 
institution, and learn from actual experience in the work 
and from the advice of those more experienced than him- 
self. In time, however, law schools were established and 
those who intended to enter this profession found it more 
to their advantage to devote two or more years to regular 
class-room work in order to become fitted for this pro- 
fession. In the same way schools of social service have 
been opened, in which students may spend one or two 
years in learning the principles and practice of social 
work. During the first year the work is almost entirely 
theoretical, while during the second year the student is 
given practical experience and training along that particu- 
lar line which he intends to follow as a life work. As 



6 OPPORTUlsriTIES FOR SoCIAL WoRK 

schools of law and medicine are in increasing numbers re- 
quiring as a prerequisite for enrollment a college degree, 
so schools of social service are emphasizing the advantage 
of a college degree to those who hope to attain positions 
of responsibility and prominence in their chosen line. 

College students who are contemplating some form of 
social service as a life work would do well to give it a 
trial before entering a school of social service for spe- 
cialized training. If the college which they are attending 
is located in or near a city of considerable size, it is easy 
to find an opportunity to do volunteer work for some of 
the philanthropic organizations. Most of the executives 
of these organizations can find tasks fitted to college stu- 
dents and are glad of their assistance as volunteers. If 
the location of the college renders this impossible, it is 
usually feasible to find some form of work of this nature 
during the summer vacation. In this way it is usually 
possible to tell whether the appeal of this form of work is 
sufficient to warrant undertaking it as a life work. At 
the same time the student can obtain from the one in 
charge of his work a frank opinion as to whether he seems 
to be, by nature and temperament, fitted for it. A frank 
and conscientious executive is often under the necessity 
of telling a volunteer worker that he is not likely to make 
a success of this line of work, and to advise him to enter 
some other field. 

To the student who is contemplating social work as a 
profession, the truth should be told at the start that it is 
not an easy life. 'No greater responsibility can be throv^ro. 
upon a man than the care of a family that has made a 
failure of life and must be rehabilitated. It may have 
been simply sickness or unavoidable misfortune that has 
reduced the family to its present unfortunate situation, or 
it may have been the result of unwise decisions and bad 
habits that have covered years and reduced the family 
from an earlier position of self-respect and self-support to 
its present pitiable state. It is no easy matter to change 



Opportui^ities for Social Wore: 7 

the habits of years, even though the family must realize 
that it is to them that the present misfortunes are due. 
To make an investigation that v^ill portray the family in 
its period of greatest prosperity requires patience, tact 
and sympathy. To hit upon those latent qualities which 
are most likely to bring the family back again to its former 
high estate, and to formulate a plan by which these quali- 
ties can function most successfully requires a high order 
of intelligence and imagination. A successful investiga- 
tion means far more than the discovery of the mistakes 
and bad habits which caused the present downfall. It in- 
volves the discovery of other qualities now latent by which 
the family may work out its own salvation. To discover 
the broken wiring, or the faulty adjustment in a stalled 
automobile, is an easy task to that of inspiring the neces- 
sary ambition in a discouraged and disheartened family. 
There is no use denying the fact that social work is ex- 
tremely discouraging at times. A plan may be formed 
which seems to promise well for the family, and for a 
while the efforts of the family would seem to be quite suc- 
cessful when suddenly some unforeseen misfortune, or the 
reappearance of some bad habit will precipitate another 
catastrophe, and then the problem must be taken in hand 
again with perhaps a change in plan. There will be times 
when most of these families will cooperate splendidly, 
and again when it would seem as though the day brought 
little except bad news. To keep steadily at the task under 
these trying circumstances, and to retain that optimism 
without which successful work is impossible, requires a 
high order of courage. In the face of such discourage- 
ments that man who has access to the Source of infinite 
strength and courage will prove most successful. 

The social worker must expect to find his reward and 
satisfaction in the fact that he has done his best, rather 
than from the thanks and gratitude of those for whom he 
has worked. A nurse who renews a dressing or gives a 
bath to a patient performs a service which is appreciated, 



8 OpPORTUlSriTIES FOR SoCIAL WoRE! 

and which is just the kind of service the patient desires. 
A social worker, on the other hand, often finds it neces- 
sary to do something other than that desired by the family 
visited. The client may expect money and get advice, or it 
may be that the plan which is being followed for this 
family requires the breaking of habits which have been 
followed for years. It is unpleasant to give up old habits 
and form new ones. If the plan works out successfully 
the family feels that it was their own actions which made 
it a success. If it fails the blame is laid on the worker. 
This is to be expected and the social worker, therefore, 
should look for his gratification, not to the appreciation 
of those for whom he works, but to the realization that he 
has done what he could, and that a fair measure of suc- 
cess has attended his efforts. 



I. Qualities a^b Trauvting Eequired for Successful 

Social Work 

The qualities required to make a successful teacher are 
needed in many forms of social work because the solution 
of many social questions in the home and family is at 
basis educational. As the successful teacher studies the 
individual peculiarities and needs of every scholar, and 
then with patience tries to stimulate activity and ambi- 
tion in the entire class, so the social worker must approach 
each family as a distinct problem and patiently work to 
secure cooperation and develop ambition. The ability to 
take pains and to be patient is requisite for any large 
measure of success in this field. 

Few college graduates will be satisfied to remain in- 
definitely in a subordinate position in any field of social 
work. As a college graduate begins at the bottom in shop 
or factory in order to have a first-hand knowledge of these 
various processes, and trusts to his theoretical training 
and ability to think straight for advancement, so the so- 
cial worker must acquaint himself with the various details 



Training Required for Successful Social Work 9 

and branches of work connected with organizations be- 
fore he can expect to occupy an administrative position. 
In addition to familiarity with the work, an administrator 
must gain two points; first, the loyalty of his workers, 
and secondly, the confidence of the community. As one 
of the most difficult problems in social work is to secure 
from the public the necessary funds, so the public must 
become convinced that the organization in question fills a 
distinct need in the community, that it is being intelli- 
gently managed, and that the community receives from 
each dollar contributed a dollar in service. For this end 
the loyalty of the workers is indispensable. 

It is often necessary for the executive head of an or- 
ganization to appear in public in order to gain the sup- 
port of a group of citizens for his work. Therefore, he 
should be able to gather, tabulate and analyze statistical 
data, marshal his facts in an orderly manner, and present 
them briefly and forcibly. Since many organizations and 
institutions receive all or part of their funds from taxa- 
tion, he should be able to appear at a legislative hearing 
to state the needs of his work and show the necessity of 
the appropriation for which he is asking. At the same 
time he should be able to show that the appropriation un- 
der which he is at present working has been expended 
wisely. There are some able administrators who do not 
appear to advantage in presenting the needs of their work, 
but they are the exception rather than the rule and almost 
invariably deplore their ineffectiveness along this line. 

A successful worker in any field will keep an interest 
in the literature of his subject. He will frequently at- 
tend conferences of those working along the same line, 
and will be prepared occasionally to present a paper deal- 
ing with the problems which he has encountered, and try 
to add some contribution toward the solution of those 
questions uppermost in his mind. 

While it is impossible to suggest in detail the content 
of the college courses to be chosen by one who has in mind 



10 OPPORTUlSriTIES FOR SoCIAL WoRK 

to select social work as a career, there are, however, cer- 
tain broad fields of study from which selections may be 
made with profit. He should early select courses in 
medieval and modern history, supplementing them with 
work in industrial and economic history. Elementary 
courses in both economics and sociology should be elected. 
They should be followed by more advanced coursies upon 
the border line between economics and sociology, such as 
those relating to applied sociology, labor problems, immi- 
gration, socialism, etc. Some time during his junior or 
senior year he should take a thorough course in statistics. 
The ability to read and speak at least one modern lan- 
guage should be acquired before graduation. A good 
course in psychology is quite important and a course in 
the history of religion is essential for one who would work 
among the foreign-born. All of these courses are tools for 
his future work. Further cultural courses which will ac- 
quaint the student with the best in literature and give him 
the ability to read with discrimination, to write clearly 
and to think straight should be selected. With this as a 
background the student is in a position to follow with 
profit one or more years of professional training for his 
chosen work. 



II. Community Problems 

The objects of social work are two-fold : First, to make 
possible an ampler life for the individual; second, to im- 
prove the environment of the community in which he 
lives. In the earlier developments of social work more at- 
tention was given to the individual, but within recent 
years it has become increasingly apparent that many of 
the evils from which the individual suffers may be traced 
to unfortunate conditions in the community. As a re- 
sult, even those workers whose ordinary activities are con- 
fined to the individual or the family are forced to take 
an increasing interest in community problems. 



CoMMUiNriTY Problems 11 



(a) health 

Boards of Health aiid Health Centers. Of the com- 
munity problems demanding the attention of experts, 
none is more pressing than that of public health. This 
service requires men who are not only trained in general 
courses in physics, biology and chemistry, but who have 
taken more advanced courses in bacteriology, sanitation 
and public hygiene. To meet this need universities are, 
in some cases, inaugurating departments of public health 
for the training of experts along these lines. There is a 
demand for men who will take charge of a department of 
public health for a city and organize the preventive work 
in that community to the end of reducing the morbidity 
and mortality. The inspection of milk and food supplies, 
the condition of restaurants, hotels, and barber shops, 
should be included under this department. The examina- 
tion of the water supply, the pollution of streams, the con- 
trol of mosquitoes, is part of the activity of such a depart- 
ment. The graduate of a medical school enjoys a distinct 
advantage in entering work of this character. The ad- 
ministrative officers of State Boards of Health have con- 
siderable powers and through investigations and publi- 
cations can do much to improve the sanitation and health 
of our communities. Although these offices are, to a con- 
siderable extent, political, there is an increasing tendency 
to appoint well-trained and competent men to these posi- 
tions. Many of the minor positions, such as inspector and 
bacteriologist, are filled as a result of competitive exami- 
nation and the appointees are protected by civil service 
rules. The ability to make a thorough investigation and 
carefully to record the facts are required in a subordinate 
position of this kind. To those who possess this ability 
and are willing to work hard the road to considerable ad- 
vancement is not closed. Health Centers have been estab- 
lished in many cities where the attempt is being made to 



12 Opportunities for Social. Work 

demonstrate the possibility of reducing quite materially 
the amount of sickness in a community. Several national 
organizations are employing experts in the field to study 
the causes and extent of certain diseases with the end of 
reducing or eliminating them. There are few fields in 
which the demand for trained men has increased more 
rapidly in recent years than in that of public health. 

Tuberculosis. There is no single disease to which the 
attention of the community has been directed with greater 
emphasis within recent years than that of tuberculosis. 
The extent of this disease and the fact that it attacks in- 
dividuals at the period of maximum earning capacity, and 
that it usually results in a long and lingering illness, has 
directed attention to it. The publicity which has attended 
the Christmas sale of Red Cross seals has probably given 
this disease more public attention than any other. In 
almost every state there is a Tuberculosis Association oc- 
cupied in instructing the public with regard to this dis- 
ease. Inasmuch as tuberculosis is due, to a considerable 
extent, to improper living and working conditions, a cam- 
paign of instruction carried into the home, school and 
work-shop can do much for prevention. These associa- 
tions require the services of administrative officers who 
can conduct such a campaign of education and publicity. 
For those who have completed a course in a medical school 
there are the opportunities to become superintendents of 
the sanatoria which are constantly increasing in size and 
numbers in this country. 

Hospitals and Dispensaries. Most of the large hospi- 
tals in cities of considerable size in this country have a 
man for superintendent. In most cases this position is 
held by one who is a graduate of a school of medicine. 
These are positions of great responsibility and men who 
possess the medical training, the administrative ability, 
and the tact required are hard to find, and a competent 
superintendent may expect to receive a considerable 
salary. 



Community Problems 13 

Within the past few years social service departments 
have been started in many large hospitals and dis- 
pensaries, but most of the workers are women who have 
received definite training in this work in addition to the 
more general course in a school of social service. Their 
duties are, in many ways, similar to those of a visitor and 
case worker of a Charity Organization Society. 

Housing. It has long been recognized that one of the 
causes of sickness and lowered vitality is improper hous- 
ing. Tenements with dark and unventilated rooms are 
likely to be breeding places for tuberculosis. Rooms in 
cellars and basements are not desirable living quarters. 
Without proper provision for running water and toilets, 
tenement house life is unsatisfactory. With flimsy con- 
struction and wooden stairs these tenements are likely to 
become death-traps if a fire starts and gains headway in 
them. As a result of this it has been found necessary to 
pass regulations governing the erection and maintenance 
of tenement houses that they may be proper habitations. 
This requires constant inspection of buildings in course 
of erection to see that they comply with the law, and the 
inspection of occupied tenements to see that they are so 
maintained as to be fit for habitation, and that all nui- 
sances are abated. Those in charge of these departments 
have an opportunity for very real service, and those who 
begin at a fairly small salary as inspectors may hope in 
time to rise to positions of greater responsibility. 

Societies for Mental Hygiene. Very few states at 
present are without an organization whose principal duty 
is to assist those who are mentally deranged. There are 
many persons in our communities who would at one time 
have been considered simply queer. They find it diffi- 
cult to fit into any normal environment and are a source 
of constant care and anxiety to their family and friends. 
Just what to do with them is a problem which the average 
individual is unable to determine. It is the function of 
these societies for mental hygiene to make careful exami- 



14 Opportuistities for Social Work 

nations of these abnormal individuals and to give expert 
advice to theix families. Mental ailments of this kind are 
those with which the average individual is perhaps the 
least competent to deal and must depend upon expert ad- 
vice. The expert employed by such a society can advise 
a family whether the case is one requiring institutional 
treatment, what is the best institution for the particular 
individual, and then assist in the steps required for legal 
commitment. To fit a worker for a position of this kind 
requires, of course, peculiar medical and institutional 
training, but the opportunities for real social and com- 
munity service are very large. 

Societies for Social Hygiene. A question in which 
morals and health are closely associated is that of social 
hygiene. The war presented to the people of this country 
the astounding prevalence of the social diseases and 
aroused in them the determination to do something to re- 
duce this evil. State societies were organized and with 
the cooperation of Boards of Stealth a campaign of edu- 
cation by means of motion pictures and lectures was be- 
gun. With the financial assistance of the Federal Gov- 
ernment women's reformatories in many states enlarged 
their hospital facilities to care for diseased women. 
Clinics for the treatment of these diseases in both sexes 
have been opened in many of our large cities. Shop talks 
are being given to bring home to the workers the preva- 
lence and insidiousness of these diseases. 

In focusing the attention of the communities upon this 
evil, and in organizing and directing the efforts being 
made throughout the country to meet this situation, men 
who are forceful speakers and possess executive ability 
may find employment. 

(b) RECREATIOl^ 

Community Service. The late war showed the neces- 
sity for wholesome recreation in the large army camps and 



Community Problems 15 

the cities near them. A considerable proportion^ of the 
leisure time of our people is given over to recreation and 
many of the forms have become commercialized. The 
provision of recreation in this leisure time has become a 
matter of business, the principal motive of which is to 
make money. The people have demanded amusement, but 
have apparently forgotten how to amuse themselves. Their 
working hours are somewhat monotonous and they de- 
mand excitement in their hours of leisure. This has 
opened the way to many abuses. There are thousands ot 
men and women in our large cities who are practicaUy 
homeless. They live in boarding houses and after the day s 
work is over go out on the street in search of recreation 
and excitement. They spend much of their time m sa- 
loons, billiard rooms, in dance halls, and m motion pic- 
ture theaters. The demand for relaxation and a change 
is quite justifiable and in many cases little fault can he 
found with the places they patronize, but where the prin- 
cipal motive back of these commercial enterprises is finan- 
cial gain, it is but natural that abuses should creep m. 
Eecognizing the necessity for legitimate recreation, our 
communities have set about the task of elimmatmg the 
most apparent evils connected with the misuse of leisiire. 
The saloon as an institution has been abolished, i'ubiic 
dance halls are, in many places, being supervised. Mo- 
tion pictures are being censored. The responsibility for 
providing clean and decent forms of recreation is being rec- 
ognized With the abolition of the saloon as a meeting 
place for men has come the obligation of providing some 
substitute for this, and in many places community houses 
are being opened. These provide opportunities for read- 
ing, writing, rooms for different games of skill, an audi- 
torium for concerts, community singing, folk-songs, folk- 
dances and amateur theatricals, with a floor to be used tor 
dancing To manage community houses of this nature has 
offered a new and large opportunity to trained men. The 
demand has exceeded the supply and it is not an easy matter 



16 Opportunities for Social Woek 

to find a man who combines the qualities required for the 
successful administration of such an enterprise. As our 
communities recognize their responsibilities along these 
lines, the demand for trained leadership is sure to in- 
crease. Some idea of the many lines into which this serv- 
ice may lead may be gained from the following extracts 
from a bulletin sent by the Secretary of Community 
Service (Incorporated) to their workers outlining the 
field of work : 

^^The contribution of Community Service to the leisure 
time needs of the members of a community, with the develop- 
ment through the community itself of a community recrea- 
tion program, is along the lines of social^ recreational, educa- 
tional and cultural interests. In meeting community needs, 
cities are developing, among others, the following forms of 
organizations and activities: 

Recreational and Social Activities Through Neighborhood 
Organization. 

Neighborhood organization through which the people of a 
neighborhood join forces in a unit organization to meet 
their own needs. Social and recreational activities de- 
veloped through neighborhood organization include : 

Organization of neighborhood committees 

The bringing together of neighborhood groups of em- 
ployers and employees for civic purposes such as 
securing of more playgrounds 

The use of school buildings and other meeting places, 
such as libraries, as neighborhood recreation centers 

Play in vacant lots 

Street play centers 

Block dances and parties, emphasizing the participation 
of the older as well as the young people 

Teaching of dancing to beginners 

Church hospitality and church suppers 

Neighborhood picnics and outings 

Dramatic clubs and storytelling 

Eecreation clubs 



Community Peoblems 17 

Neighborhood singing groups 
Parent-Teachers^ Associations 
Dry saloons 
Backyard play 

Special Group Activities 

Permanent service for the Army and Navy 
Service for merchant marines and longshoremen 
Eecreation work for colored citizens 
Citizenship work for foreign born 

Emphasis on community activities for industrial workers 
Eural community service 

Organization of children into Junior Community Service 
Leagues 

Educational Activities 

Forums 

Mass meetings with popular subjects presented by local 
ministers and outside speakers 

Art and Cultural Interests 

Community, neighborhood and special holiday celebra- 
tions 
Community singing, choruses and choral clubs 
Noon time singing in factories 
Band concerts 
Community opera 
Organ recitals 
Orchestras 
Community theaters 

Play-writing contests and stimulation of local talent 
Community pageants 

Art exhibits designed to develop local talent 
Popular entertainments 
Lyceums, lectures 

Physical Eecreation 

Evening use of playgrounds for working boys and girls 
and adults 



18 Opportunities fob Sociai. Work 

Public School Athletic Leagues 

Athletic leagues 

Gymnasium classes 

Athletic fields 

The promotion of a broad physical education program 

Physical efficiency tests 

Promotion of sports such as : 

Coasting, skiing, skating and other winter sports 

Facilities for skating in winter and for swimming 
and water sports in summer 

Soccer, football, field hockey and similar games 

Twilight baseball for boys 

Physical Facilities 

Summer camps 
Municipal bathing beaches 
Swimming pools 
Parks 

Public drinking fountains 
Public comfort stations 
Community rest rooms 
Memorial buildings 
Public golf courses. 



}y 



Playgrounds. Childhood is preeminently the time for 
play, but in the congested sections of our cities the op- 
portunity for it is very limited. With land so valuable 
that every available foot is wanted for buildings the 
chances for out-door play are confined, to a considerable 
extent, to the sidewalks and streets. The streets are be- 
ing used more and more by automobiles and heavy trucks 
so that the playing of games in them is out of the ques- 
tion, and children running on the sidewalks are an incon- 
venience to the pedestrians. Accordingly it has been 
found necessary in our large cities to set aside open 
spaces in the midst of the congested areas for purposes of 
play. In many cases they are equipped with a running 
track and out-door gymnasium apparatus. It was soon 



Community Problems 19 

apparent that children on these playgrounds must be su- 
pervised and during the summer months large numbers of 
college men with some experience in athletics find em- 
ployment in this work. Their duties are to keep order in 
the playground, protect the children from injury, super- 
vise their games and teach them new ones. There is an 
increasing tendency in our cities to have an athletic direc- 
tor connected with the public schools. Their duties are 
to give setting-up exercises to the school children, to coach 
the teams in the various sports in the schools and instill 
into the scholars the spirit of clean sportsmanship. Some 
of these directors have taken courses in physical training, 
but many of them are college graduates with a good rec- 
ord in athletics at their institution. 



(c) INDUSTRIAL WELFARE 

A very extensive field for work has been opened by 
modern industry in its attempt to secure the health, 
safety and comfort of its employees. This is somewhat 
aside froni most forms of social work, but is included in 
brief in order to complete the picture. Many employees 
are inefficient and unhappy in their work because they 
are not engaged on the right job. To avoid this many 
large industrial establishments are hiring trained psy- 
chologists who make tests upon the present employees and 
new employees in order to determine the type of work to 
which they are best fitted. When the employees have been 
satisfactorily placed, efforts are made to safeguard them 
against occupational diseases and accident. The attempt 
is made to secure the proper humidity and temperature of 
the workrooms, to guard them against poisonous fumes 
and gases, and carry away dangerous dusts or filings. 
Safety devices are attached to machines. In these efforts 
to guard against accident and injury the companies are 
seconded by the inspectors of insurance companies, who 
are always anxious to eliminate risks. Operating-rooms 



20 Opportunities fob Social Work 

and rest-rooms are provided in which a physician and 
nurse are in attendance, and the employees are encouraged 
to consult the physician at other times than when suffer- 
ing from an injury. Proper wash-rooms, lockers and 
toilets have been introduced, and in many places rooms in 
which the employees may eat the lunches which they bring 
or have served to them at cost. Playgrounds are provided 
and in many cases a summer camp is run for the em- 
ployees. A building is often provided for educational and 
recreational purposes. Classes in English and Ameri- 
canization work are carried on in it. The end for all these 
forms of activity is to assure an intelligent, healthy, effi- 
cient and contented body of employees. To introduce and 
supervise these varied activities requires trained men. 
Although certain of these activities are far afield from 
ordinary social work, yet other lines are quite closely re- 
lated to it. The increase in the demand for experts along 
these lines has been very great in the past few years. 

(d) morai. a]^d religious 

R&scue Missions. All the cities of considerable size in 
this country are confronted with the problem of the home- 
less man. In most cases he is a human derelict, unwilling 
or unable to earn a livelihood, and drifting from place to 
place when he has worn out his welcome in one com- 
munity. In most cases drink has been one of the princi- 
pal causes of his present unfortunate condition. Some- 
times he does odd jobs, but more often begs for a living. 
The question of food is a comparatively simple one, but 
to obtain a lodging presents more difficulties. Municipal 
lodging houses, wayfarers' lodges and accommodations 
provided by charitable organizations where lodgings and 
meals may be obtained in return for work of some sort, 
have helped to solve one side of this question in many com- 
munities, but it has failed to reach the heart of the 
matter. It simply furnishes these men with a resting 



Community ProbliTms 21 

piace for a night or two until they can continue their 
journey to another town. It does little to change a man's 
attitude, to persuade him to give up this life for some- 
thing better, or help him to overcome the habits which 
have brought him to his present unfortunate condition. 
The Salvation Army and Rescue Missions in our large 
cities have tried to reach this man by the religious appeal, 
and to encourage and assist him in the struggle which 
is bound to come when he tries to give up these habits 
which have enslaved him. One of the slogans of the 
Salvation Army has been that because a man is down 
is no reason why he is out, and the members of this 
Army have gone into the saloons and places where these 
men congregate at all hours of the day and night in an 
effort to reach and reform them. They have begun the 
work through religious meetings in the open air or in 
their halls, and when they have found a man who was 
willing to try to come back and make something of him- 
self he has been taken to the Industrial Home where 
work has been found for him and he could be kept under 
supervision. Many men in these homes have joined the 
Climbers' Club composed of those who have pledged them- 
selves to give up drink and try to climb back into decent 
manhood. After keeping these men for many months 
in these homes work is found for them on the outside 
and in many cases they become volunteer workers for 
the Army. 

In many cities Slum Posts or Rescue Missions are 
maintained in those sections of the city where these home- 
less men congregate, and an attempt is made at reforma- 
tion through religious meetings, personal interviews, and 
a general helpfulness on the part of the pastor or super- 
intendent who holds out a helping hand to these unfor- 
tunates. The young man who would make a success of 
this type of work must possess unbounded optimism, sym- 
pathy, and patience. With the improvement in the en- 
forcement of prohibition, one of the principal causes for 



22 Oppobtui^ities for Social. Work 

the existence of this unfortunate group will be removed, 
but we shall never be entirely free from those who, for 
one cause or another, have become discouraged, lost their 
ambition, and gradually drifted into this apparently hope- 
less condition. There will always be work for those who 
are brave enough to tackle this job. 

Temperance Work. For the past fifty years an increas- 
ing group of men in this country have devoted their en- 
ergies to the fight against the saloon. As a result of their 
platform work, joined by the conviction of many large 
employers of labor together with many labor union mem- 
bers this movement gained impetus. The testimony of 
physicians and scientists, boards of health, and insurance 
companies was all to the same end. When we learned 
that the drink bill of this country approximated two bil- 
lions of dollars a year, and when during the late war we 
were confronted with a shortage of food stuffs, the great 
middle class of this country became convinced that the 
manufacture and sale of intoxicants as a beverage must 
cease. Although the amendment to the Constitution is 
accomplished, the enforcement of the act is far from 
satisfactory, and we have illegal distilling, illegal trans- 
portation, and illegal sale of liquor in many sections of 
the country. As a result the Anti-Saloon League and 
kindred organizations find their work far from completed 
and much of their energy is now being devoted to the 
passage of necessary legislation in the states, to the prob- 
lem of enforcement, and to the question of what is to 
take the place of the saloon. It is likely that the demand 
for active men in this line of work will continue for 
some time. 

Institutional Churches. It has long been recognized 
that the church as ordinarily conducted did not meet 
certain conditions. This was particularly the case in the 
downtown sections of our cities. The regular Sunday 
services and prayer meetings had their place, but if these 
church buildings were adequately to meet the needs of 



Community Problems 23 

the population in these districts they must be open for 
more than a dozen hours a week, and must include other 
types of work. Accordingly club rooms and reading rooms 
were opened^ and in many cases the pastor or assistant 
pastor became rather a club leader or settlement director. 
He gave his time to making this building a community 
center and through clubs, lectures and discussions, tried 
to instill community spirit. Classes in sewing, cooking, 
and music were added in many cases. Athletic teams 
were organized and in many cases a summer camp was 
maintained. To conduct the varied activities of an in- 
stitution of this sort requires training very different from 
that given to the ordinary minister. It requires knowl- 
edge of a community, or community needs, of club work, 
of play and recreation, and is quite like the work of 
community service on a small scale. Work of this sort 
should appeal to many college men who do not feel called 
to take up the work of the ordinary minister, but who 
desire some form of Christian service. Men who have 
had some experience in athletics and have enjoyed work 
in a boys' club or as a volunteer worker in a settlement 
during their college course, are quite likely to feel the 
appeal of this type of work. One great requisite of 
success along this line is the ability to make and keep 
friends. A man must be a good mixer if he would hold 
the confidence of the groups which he is likely to gather 
about him in such work. 



(e) social settlemeistts 

In most of our large cities will be found sections where 
most of the population is composed of those of foreign 
birth or parentage. The opportunity for the residents 
of these sections to come in contact with those of the 
community who represent the finest type of citizenship 
is extremely limited. In order to provide a point of 
contact between these diverse elements in our population 



24 Opportui^ities for Sociai. Work 

the settlement idea was developed. Beginning with the 
University Settlement in New York over four hundred 
social settlements are now in existence in this country. 

The service which a social settlement renders is ex- 
tremely broadj and includes an active interest in the prob- 
lems of the individual, the family, the neighborhood, and 
the city. Individuals come to the settlement seeking pri- 
marily recreation and education, and if the membership 
of a settlement is to be built up these needs must be 
adequately met. Therefore, recreation work is one of 
the leading regular activities of every settlement. The 
headworker will also be presented with family problems, 
principally on account of health or financial distress, and 
must be in a position to render assistance or refer the 
family to the proper agency. Through the membership 
and activities of the settlement it is possible to secure 
accurate information with regard to existing social con- 
ditions in the neighborhood, and at the same time through 
the stimulus of the settlement develop self-expression and 
neighborhood expression. The settlement fails in its duty 
to the community if it does not stimulate the immigrant 
to give his best to his community and to the country of 
his adoption. This is done by instruction and contact 
with the finest types in the community. Through the 
musical and dramatic work of the settlement much may 
be done to raise the cultural taste of a community, and 
often exceptional talent along these lines is discovered 
and developed. In a word, the community is helped to 
find itself. 

The lines of activity in a large settlement house are 
quite varied. A considerable portion of the work is done 
through clubs usually in charge of a volunteer worker. 
These often include clubs composed of men interested in 
serious questions and the affairs of the neighborhood, 
Mothers' clubs, and some clubs of boys and girls. Classes 
in cookings dressmaking, millinery and housekeeping are 



Community Problems 25 

often maintained. Athletic work is a part of almost 
every settlement, and in most cases gymnasium facilities 
are provided in the house. A branch library is often main- 
tained and hours are devoted to reading and story telling. 
In many settlements considerable musical work is done* 
and classes in piano and violin playing and in group 
singing are conducted. The residents of the neighborhood 
who attend the settlement are encouraged to take an in- 
terest in the problems of the community, and many re- 
forms have had their inception in an active settlement. 
The position of head worker in a social settlement is one 
of great responsibility. He must be able to attract the 
right type of men and women as both resident and non- 
resident workers in the settlement. He must take a keen 
interest in the welfare of the neighborhood and be re- 
spected as a leader by those in the neighborhood. He 
must possess to an extraordinary degree executive and 
organizing ability. He must be willing to work hard 
because the hours are long and the number of matters 
coming to him for decision and settlement is large. 

For a man who possesses the qualities required there 
are few positions in which one can do more for a com- 
munity than as head worker in a settlement. The num- 
ber of men who can fill positions of this kind is never 
equal to the demand for them. In TJie Compass for 
April, 1921, is the following note: ^^Just at present there 
seems to be a distinct shortage of high grade trained 
men or women for settlement work. Half a dozen jobs 
from! Cleveland, Minneapolis, Boston and New York, 
paying from $2,200 to $3,600 and maintenance, have re- 
mained unfilled for some time. It seems a pity that at 
a time of so much general unemployment, one of the 
oldest and best known fields of social work should be 
faced with a shortage of trained people." 

In addition to the position of head worker many of 
the larger settlements employ an assistant head worker. 



26 Opportunities for Social Work 

an athletic director, and directors of club work. It is 
possible for students in colleges located in large cities 
to have experience as volunteer workers during their col- 
lege course and determine whether this type of work 
appeals to them, and whether they are likely to succeed 
at it as a life work. A conscientious head worker is 
usually ready to encourage those who are likely to succeed 
along this line of social service, and to discourage those 
who, from certain temperamental defects, are not likely 
to prove successful. Those who are planning to enter this 
type of work should specialize in courses dealing with 
the economic, social, and political conditions and history 
of this country. 

(r) couT^ciLS of social agencies 

Many of the large cities of this country have, within 
recent years, been confronted with two problems in the 
field of philanthropic work. There has been a feeling 
that with the multiplication of social agencies there might 
be considerable duplication along some lines while there 
were other sections of the field that were not being ade- 
quately covered. In order to meet this need councils of 
social agencies have been formed in many cities to limit 
the fields of the different organizations, to raise the stand- 
ard of the work, and to assign to the proper organization 
any new piece of work which it seemed wise to undertake. 
At the same time it seemed advisable to regulate in some 
way the raising of funds for the various organizations 
working in the community. The task of raising the money 
required for these organizations was not an easy one, and 
the burden resting upon the directors became well-nigh 
intolerable. At the same time the community became 
impatient when drive succeeded drive for these organiza- 
tions with astounding frequency. Each organization ap- 
pealed to the same small group of givers in the community 
and it was felt in many places that the time had come to 



Community Problems 27 

have one annual drive for all the social agencies of the 
city and to endeavor to increase the number of con- 
tributors. With this end in view the Council of Social 
Agencies and the Community Chest were in many places 
linked together and an annual drive for funds was made. 
This fund was then assigned to the different agencies ac- 
cording to the importance of the work done and the accom- 
panying expense. This form of activity is comparatively 
recent, but it is evident that a man of wide training and 
experience is required for an executive position with one 
of these Councils of Social Agencies. He must be able 
to see things in a broad way and to include the needs of 
the entire community in his vision. 

(g) commutstity surveys 

In many communities the number of social organiza- 
tions and the expense of supporting them has increased 
so rapidly within recent years that the citizens have felt 
impelled to take account of stock and endeavor to de- 
termine how well the field is being covered^ and whether 
the need exists for all of the present organizations, or 
whether more should be formed. This requires a care- 
ful and systematic survey of the community. Several 
large surveys like those of Pittsburgh and Springfield 
have been made, and a number of surveys upon particular 
topics such as the vice surveys in a number of our Ameri- 
can cities. To take charge of a piece of work of this 
nature requires a man of wide statistical training and 
experience. He must know the facts it is necessary to 
learn, be able to prepare the inquiry blanks, apportion 
the city, take charge of the actual enumeration or study, 
plan the tables, take charge of the tabulation, and if nec- 
essary make the statistical analysis. Few communities 
possess men capable of taking charge of a piece of work 
of this kind, and there is always a limited demand for 
experts who are capable of filling such a position. 



28 Opportui^ities for Social Work 

III. The Family 

(a) family social work 

There is one type of social work in which the unit is 
the family. About forty years ago the movement for 
the establishment of charity organization societies began 
in this country. In the beginning they were little other 
than associations to organize the relief work which was 
being done by different organizations which dealt with 
families. The principal idea was to avoid duplication 
in work. Since then, however^ the idea underlying these 
organizations has changed until, under a variety of names, 
they have become the principal societies doing family 
case work and social work in the cities of this country. 
They were called originally Charity Organization Soci- 
eties, Organized Charities Associations, and Associated 
Charities. During recent years the name of "Charity" 
has fallen somewhat into disrepute and in selecting a new 
name for these societies the attempt has been made to 
stress the family end of the work and to avoid the word 
"Charity.'' The activities of these organizations do not 
consist merely in giving relief, but rather in the attempt 
to place the families in a position where they will be 
ultimately self-supporting. Relief may be necessary for 
a longer or shorter time, but this is merely incidental to 
the rehabilitation of the family. Work of this kind 
requires the intensive investigation of a family. It is not 
merely the attempt to discover and record all the faults 
and defects in the family, but rather to determine its 
latent possibilities, and to devise some way by which this 
family may become in time a self-respecting and self- 
supporting group. The corner stone of any such organi- 
zations must be careful and painstaking case work. The 
worker must be able to discover, not alone the causes 
which have brought the family to its present unfortunate 



The Family - 29 

situation, but the latent resources of the family which 
may be called forth to make it function properly. In 
many forms of social work good case work is necessary, 
but it is the very life of an organization of this sort. 
There is no problem which can call forth the highest 
qualities of a worker, or challenge his best endeavor to 
a greater extent than when presented with the problem 
of a family which has made a sorry failure out of life. 
No one is fitted to become the secretary of such an or- 
ganization until he has been trained in the technique of 
case work and has had active experience in it. He must 
understand the necessity for a thorough investigation of 
each case, and from the interpretation of the evidence 
on the record be able to make a proper diagnosis. In 
this he will require the assistance of a case committee, 
and must be able to enlist a group of volunteers who will 
give loyal and regular service to this work. He must gain 
the cooperation of those engaged in other lines of social 
work in the city because an organization of this sort de- 
pends, to a considerable extent, upon assistance which 
can be rendered by workers in other lines. The Civic 
Protective Association may help with the wayward girl, 
the probation officer with the boy who is hard to manage, 
the Dispensary must help with the suspected case of 
tuberculosis, the Visiting ITurse must come in for sick- 
ness, and the Children's Aid Society must help in find- 
ing a suitable home for a baby. The secretary is also 
interested in any community problems which are making 
family life difficult. He is interested in public health, 
in pure milk, in decent recreation, in the employment 
situation, in the conditions and rentals of tenement houses, 
in the workman's compensation act, and in the countless 
conditions which affect family life. He may find it neces- 
sary to assist in placing an insane parent, a feeble-minded 
child, or a tuberculous mother in a suitable institution. 
He must be able to keep the work of his Association 
before the public in such a way as to make easier the 



30 Opportunities for Social Work 

task of raising the funds required for the work. In many 
organizations a considerable share of the responsibility for 
raising the funds rests with the secretary. There are 
more paid workers in this line of work than in any other 
type of organization doing relief work in this country, 
and the opportunities for well-trained men are large. 

Closely allied with this work, and uniform with it in 
so far as the unit is the family, is Mothers' Aid, or 
Widows' Pension work. The feeling is growing in this 
country that the presence of a widow with young children 
is required in her home, and that it is a mistake to expect 
her to earn her own living in addition to bringing up her 
children. It is also felt that she should not be dependent 
upon assistance given by a charitable organization, but 
that it is the duty of the state to provide sufficient funds 
to enable her to stay at home and bring up her children 
properly. Eligibility for a widow's pension varies in 
different states. In some states deserted wives are en- 
titled to support. In some cases the pension rests upon 
the citizenship of the father, but as a rule pensions are 
granted when the mother is a suitable woman in a proper 
home with young children, and without the income re- 
quired for a decent standard of living. The determina- 
tion of these points requires careful case work and fre- 
quent visitation in the home after the pension is granted. 
The proper administration of a fund of this nature re- 
quires adequate supervision from the central office and 
the standardization of the work throughout the state as 
a whole. There are various methods in force for the 
investigation and visitation in the local communities, but 
whatever be the method a trained executive is needed 
in the central office. 



(b) BEPARTMEISTTS OF PUBLIC CHARITIES 

A position which requires many of the same qualities 
needed by the Executive Secretary to a Charity Organi- 



The Child ' 31 

zation Society is the Superintendent or Commissioner 
of the Department of Public Charities in our cities. A 
large share of the work of these departments is with fam- 
ilies. They dispense outdoor relief to families in their 
homes, and also have charge of the charitable institutions 
maintained by the City. Medical attendance in their 
homes and care in hospitals is furnished by the City in 
a good many cases^ and pauper burials are usually in 
charge of this Department. The work requires a person 
familiar with case work and possessing administrative 
ability. At present most of these positions are filled by 
men who have had little or no experience in relief work, 
but who have obtained the position as a reward for politi- 
cal service, or who have been successful in administrative 
work along some other line. An encouraging sign in the 
past few years has been the appointment to these posi- 
tions of men who have had experience in social work, and 
it is probable that in the future an increasing number 
of communities will demand that the persons placed in 
charge of their Public Charities shall be men who have 
had experience in some related work. 



IV. The Child 

(a) children's aid societies 

In every state there is a considerable number of children 
who, as a result of the death of their parents, of improper 
home conditions, or of wayward tendencies, can no longer 
be kept in their own homes. In some cases these children 
are placed in institutions and in others they are boarded 
in suitable homes, or in some instances given in adoption. 
Almost every state has a society whose business it is to 
investigate the home, to study the child, and to find a 
suitable home for it. Successful child placing renders 
three services to the child. In the first place it makes 
a careful study of each individual child based upon physi- 



32 Opportunities for Social Work 

cal and mental tests to determine whether the child is 
normal, and whether any minor operation such as one on 
adenoids or tonsils is required before the child can be 
placed in a suitable home. In case the examination dis- 
closes distinct mental subnormality it may be necessary 
to place a child in an institution. If, however, the child 
is normal, the second task is the selection of a suitable 
home for it. The Society, through its visitors, is con- 
tinually inspecting and tabulating homes and that one is 
selected in which the child is most likely to succeed. The 
third task is the continuous visitation and inspection of 
this home to determine that the child is making satisfac- 
tory progress. This work requires skill and intelligence 
and the direction of a Society of this nature offers a 
large opportunity to the right man. The demand is con- 
stantly greater than the supply and there is always com- 
petition for the man who possesses the qualification and 
training required for the position. 

(b) boys' clubs 

The external factors with the most influence upon boys 
are the home, the school, the church, and the street. In 
many cases the influences of the home are far from stim- 
ulating to boys, and especially with children of foreign- 
born parents there is a tendency of the child to consider 
his parents a^ back numbers and to be unwilling to take 
their advice or follow their example. These children 
feel that if they are to succeed in this country it must 
be by adopting American customs, and they feel that 
in many respects their parents are un-American, and that 
the advice they receive at home possesses but little value. 
The school does its best to train these children to become 
useful citizens and the attempt is made to place the 
strongest teachers in the foreign-born sections to influence 
their pupils. The attempt is made through parent asso- 
ciations to enlist the support of parents to work with 



The Delinquent 33 

the school, and to carry the school training over into the 
home. The influence of the street is not always of the 
best and playgrounds under proper supervision are estab- 
lished to avoid the dangers of the city streets. But with 
all these influences there is the need of something more 
to keep the city child from becoming the member of a 
gang. Boys are gregarious by instinct and have a supply 
of surplus energy which is . likely to lead them into bad 
practices if no suitable channel can be found for its 
activity. The best answer seems to be to transform the 
gang into a properly housed, well regulated, and suitably 
supervised club. There are few large cities in this coun- 
try which do not possess one or more boys' clubs with 
a trained superintendent, and in many cases with an as- 
sistant superintendent and athletic director. Much of the 
work is done by volunteers who attend the club for one 
or two nights a week to take charge of some particular 
group in which they are interested. 

Athletics always play a large part in the activities of 
such a club and baseball, basketball, and football follow 
one another in stimulating interest and teaching team 
play. The superintendent must know his boys personally 
and be able to share their problems and direct them in 
their difficulties. He must be able not only to gain the 
confidence of the boys, but to arouse and keep the interest 
of those who give their services as volunteers. The suc- 
cess of a superintendent of a boys' club depends to a very 
considerable extent upon personal qualities which cannot 
be imparted by training. 



V. The Delinquent 
(a) probation woek 

Although the number of those with anti-social instincts 
in our communities is comparatively small, yet the trouble 
and expense to which we are put by their presence is 



34 Opportuistities foe, Social Work: 

out of all proportion to their numbers. Beginning at a 
comparatively early age, the number of persons convicted 
of offenses against our laws increases to a maximum at 
about the age of twenty-five. Our jails, reformatories, and 
prisons have a population of about a hundred thousand, 
and about a half more than this number are annually com- 
mitted to these institutions. Twenty years ago a person 
convicted before one of our courts was either dismissed 
with a reprimand, fined, or sent to jail or prison. When 
we finally grasped the idea that the ends of justice were 
better served by reformation than by punishment, and 
that to sentence a man to thirty days in jail served little 
purpose but to enable him to associate with those who 
were worse than he was, we looked around for something 
better than a jail sentence. This was found in probation. 
Under the old system there was no intermediary between 
the prosecuting attorney and the judge. A boy arrested 
for theft was kept in the police station over night, brought 
to court in the morning, his case was tried in the open 
court and he was discharged or perhaps sent to the Reform 
School. Under the modern methods the case is reported 
to the probation officer who is a social worker rather than 
a police officer. He visits the home, interviews the boy, 
his parents, his teachers, and finds out what he can about 
the neighborhood and his associates. Two or three days 
are allowed for this investigation and in the meantime 
the boy stays either at home or in some children's build- 
ing. He comes to the hearing in response to a summons 
and his case is heard by a juvenile court judge, or a judge 
in a court of domestic relations, with no one present ex- 
cept those interested in this particular case. The proba- 
tion officer tells his story and makes his recommenda- 
tion to the court. The judge listens to this and if it is 
the first offense will discharge the boy with a warning 
to him or to his parents, or may place him upon probation 
for a number of months. In the latter case he reports 
regularly to the probatioi^ officer and brings him weekly 



The Delinqueitt 35 

a card .showing that he has been regular in attendance 
at school. In addition to this the probation officer visits 
the home and perhaps obtains for the boy membership 
in some boys' club in the neighborhood of his home. In 
a large proportion of such cases the boy is straightened 
out and never again comes into contact with the author- 
ities. 

Under the old method it frequently happened that a 
man who was in the habit of becoming intoxicated or 
who failed to support his family was sent to jail. As a 
result all income of the family ceased and it became de- 
pendent upon public or private charity. Under the new 
method the man is placed under probation and ordered 
to pay a certain amount weekly for the support of his 
family. In the meantime the probation officer does his 
best to encourage the husband and remove the friction 
which may have existed in the home. 

The result of probation has been to reduce the number 
of jail commitments and in some states some of the jails 
are no longer tenanted. There are at present about two 
thousand parole officers in this country and Avhen the 
selection and tenure of these officers is not dependent upon 
politics, it offers a very attractive field for college gradu- 
ates. The University of Minnesota has offered a course 
of training for parole officers. In most of our states the 
tenure of office is reasonably certain and fair salaries are 
sure. It would appeal to many to feel they were working 
for one of the three great branches of our Government. 
This work is in no way dependent upon the philanthropy 
of wealthy contributors, but is a part of our judiciary 
system. The work is bound to grow, and since in most 
of our large cities it is performed under good supervision, 
the opportunity for real training is assured. The pro- 
bation officer does not work single-handed in his efforts 
to reform those committed to his charge, but has the as- 
sistance and cooperation of social workers and agencies 
in a variety of fields. There is much to encourage the 



36 Opportunities for Social Work 

worker in his daily tasks because when his job is efficiently 
done he sees the results of his labors almost at once in 
reconstructed individuals and homes. The opportunity 
for advancement to supervisory positions and to the work 
of chief probation officer in a large city or state opens 
continuous avenues of advancement to industrious and 
efficient workers. Although connected with the courts 
a probation officer is essentially a social worker. College 
graduates who wish to enlist in humanitarian and reform 
work would do well to consider the opportunities offered 
along the line of probation work. 

(b) reform schools 

Most of the states in this country possess at least one 
school maintained by the State to which boys between 
the ages of eight and fifteen who have shown wayward 
and criminal tendencies and have not responded to pro- 
bationary treatment may be sent. Boys are usually com- 
mitted to these schools under an indeterminate sentence 
by which they may not be kept beyond a certain maximum 
age, but may be paroled at an earlier age at the discretion 
of the directors of the school. Years ago these schools 
usually consisted of one or more large congregate buildings 
situated in a fairly good-sized yard which was surrounded 
by a wall. To this type of institution there were many 
objections. The life of the boys was regulated by the 
stroke of a bell. Everything was done at wholesale and 
far removed from the conditions prevailing in the family 
home. The little world of the inmates was bounded by 
the high wall which surrounded the school. From such 
surroundings the boy was likely to come forth institution- 
alized no matter how satisfactory the educational facilities 
were. 

Under the modern regime a school of this sort is located 
in the country upon a tract of land comprising perhaps 
hundreds of acres. There will be one central adminis-^ 



The Delinquent 37 

tration building and another central plant for the voca- 
tional work, or other joint activities of the institution, 
such as laundry. The boys, however, will live in small 
cottages in charge of a matron or possibly a man and 
wife where conditions will approximate those of a large 
family. Each cottage will have its own garden and in 
some cases a separate barn. These units are, to a con- 
siderable extent, self-supporting. By means of a number 
of small cottages it is possible to stimulate rivalry among 
the groups and to develop a spirit in which every boy 
is anxious to have his cottage the best in the group. In- 
terest in education is promoted by spelling matches be- 
tween different cottages, and prizes can be offered for the 
best vegetables raised on these farms. By a system of 
credits the supplies furnished each cottage are conserved 
and the excessive breakage of dishes is avoided. Athletic 
events can be arranged among the boys in the different 
groups. Conditions on such a farm are quite different 
from those in the old congregate institution located in 
or near some city. 

To become superintendent or assistant superintendent 
of such a school offers a wonderful opportunity to a man 
who understands and is interested in boys. In addition 
he should possess considerable administrative and busi- 
ness ability. 

Another interesting piece of work in connection with 
these schools is that of parole officer. At the time of the 
commitment of a boy he should be given a careful physical 
and mental examination and a social study should be made 
of his home conditions. A copy of this evidence should 
be sent to the institution to furnish a background for the 
study of the boy while at the school. When the time for 
the release of the boy approaches it should be the duty 
of the social worker or parole officer to determine the cir- 
cumstances under which the boy may be returned to the 
community with the greatest likelihood of success. It 
may be that the conditions and associations in his home 



38 Opportut^ities for Social Work 

community are such that it will be unwise to return him 
to the place where he originally got into trouble. In that 
case employment should be found for him in some other 
community and a proper boarding place secured for him, 
but when this is done the boy must not be left to his own 
resources but should be visited from time to time by the 
parole officer and should report regularly to the institution. 
The boy should be encouraged to look upon the parole 
officer as a friend ever ready to give him advice and 
assistance, and to come to his aid in time of trouble. 
To establish and maintain this relationship requires a 
rare combination of qualities, and a good parole agent is 
one of the most difficult workers to secure. 



(c) REFORMATORIES FOR MEN 

At one time in this country there were no institutions 
to which those over the age of commitment to reform 
schools could be sent except the county jails and state 
prisons. The former were usually maintained for those 
convicted of a misdemeanor, and the latter for those found 
guilty of a felony. About all that was expected of the 
county jail was to hold the inmates secure and to obtain 
some work from them. There was no attempt at classi- 
fication of inmates and since they were committed for 
short sentences little was done to teach them a trade. A 
considerable proportion of the young men given jail sen- 
tences had never learned a trade and the very fact that 
they were unskilled laborers with uncertain employment 
contributed to their irresponsible life. This situation 
brought the conviction that if men of this type were to 
become responsible members of society they must be taught 
a trade at which they could earn a decent living, and 
that the habit of irregular employment must be broken. 
With this end in view most of our states have established 
reformatories for young men between the ages of sixteen 
and twenty-five or thirty to which this type of offender 



The Delustquent 39 

may be sent. Here they are taught habits of regularity, 
obedience, and industry. One of the fundamental prin- 
ciples of an institution of this type is that during his 
period of confinement every man shall be taught the prin- 
ciples of a trade in order that he may become self-support- 
ing when released. At the same time he is taught habits 
of regularity and learns to keep the hours of the ordinary 
employed workman in order that these same habits may 
be carried over into his life when released. In addition 
he is instructed in the ordinary grammar school branches. 
In many institutions all of the work of erecting new 
buildings, including brick-laying, carpentry, plastering, 
plumbing, steam-fitting, and painting, is done by the in- 
mates as part of their training. 

In some of these institutions military drill is introduced 
to teach a quick response to word of command and train 
the men in erect carriage of the body. In addition to the 
trade schools education in primary branches is given. 
Athletics are allowed on certain days and practically the 
entire population of the institution gathers as spectators. 
The position of superintendent of such an institution is a 
responsible one. In addition to the task of giving gen- 
eral supervision to all these lines of activity it is his duty 
to recommend to his board the inmates who, in his opinion, 
are worthy of parole. There is a tendency at present 
to keep these positions out of politics, and the salary 
and nature of the responsibility is such as to attract men 
with a college degree. It would be advisable for a grad- 
uate to become connected with such an institution in a 
minor capacity and become acquainted with the various 
branches of the work in order to fit himself for advance- 
ment. The man who does this and shows that he possesses 
industry and administrative capacity in addition to the 
ability to gain the confidence and respect of the inmates 
may expect to obtain in time a position of responsibility 
in this line of work. As is the case with the Reform 
School, the work of the social worker and parole officer 



40 Opportui^ities for Social Work 

is of very great importance because the real test of the 
success of an institution depends upon the lives led by 
the men who have been released from the institution. 
Every superintendent is anxious to have a parole officer 
who can gain and hold the confidence of the men on 
parole. His task is by no means an easy one because^ 
in addition to the general oversight of the men, he must 
assist in finding employment for them. 

(d) state prisons 

The average age of the inmates of State Prisons is some- 
what higher than that in the reformatories, and as a rule 
the inmates are more hardened criminals. The length 
of sentence is usually longer and men serving a life term 
are to be found in all of these institutions. As a rule 
less attention is paid to teach a variety of trades in these 
institutions^ but more to make them as nearly self-support- 
ing as possible. The salaries in these institutions are 
attractive and usually include maintenance. In many 
cases, however, politics plays a part in the choice of war- 
den. In all institutions of this kind appropriations must 
be obtained from the state legislature and in most cases 
the administrative head of the institution is expected to 
assist the board of directors in obtaining the necessary 
funds for maintenance, and occasionally an extra sum 
for new construction. TJ^e type of official is desired who 
makes a good appearances^ before the Appropriations Com- 
mittee and is able to present his needs forcibly and briefly. 

(e) jails 

As maintained at present in most sections of this coun- 
try, the county jails do not offer much of an opportunity 
for a college graduate who wishes to engage in social serv- 
ice. There is no question as to the need for improved 
management and a livelier interest in the inmates on the 



The Defective- 41 

part of the officers, but at present these positions may be 
classified as political and do not offer a very promising 
outlook to a young man who wishes to advance to a per- 
manent position of trust through the recognition of merit. 

(r) PRISOI^ERS' AID SOCIETIES 

In most of our states there is a Prisoners' Aid Society 
whose chief function is the assistance of discharged pris- 
oners. Some of these societies- are quite active while the 
work of others is comparatively unimportant. Some of 
the more active and influential societies offer a good oppor- 
tunity to a man who wishes to devote himself to the task 
of aiding discharged prisoners to take their places as re- 
sponsible members of a community. 



VI. The Defective 

The principal defective classes in the community are 
the blind, the deaf and dumb, the insane, the mentally 
deficient, and the epileptic. There are in many of the 
states organizations which deal with these class,es in the 
community, but from their very nature a considerable 
proportion of the work is done in institutions. In the 
hospitals for the insane and epileptic a considerable share 
of the work is medical in its nature, and in charge of 
these institutions is usually found a superintendent who 
is a graduate of a medical school and has later specialized 
in this department. Under him are one or more physicians 
and then a considerable number of nurses or attendants. 
One who hopes to become the head of such an institution 
should first graduate from a medical school and later 
specialize in this particular type of disease. 

In schools for the feeble-minded the hope of ultimate 
recovery does not exist. A large proportion of the in- 
mates can never be released and the most that can be ex- 
pected of any of them is to do routine work in some place 



42 OPPORTUinTIES FOB SOCIAI. WOEK 

where they can be carefully safeguarded and efficiently 
supervised. Medical education is to be recommended to 
any who hope to become in charge of such an institution. 
In the case of the blind and deaf and dumb the situa- 
tion is slightly different. Institutions for these two groups 
are primarily educational. The attempt is made to grad- 
uate patients who can become self-supporting. What ap- 
plies to one of these groups applies with nearly equal 
force to the other. That work in institutions for these two 
groups may be considered as a form of social service is 
evident from a statement which was recently issued by 
Gallaudet College in Washington, D. C. : 

^'^The heads of departments of Sociology are requested to 
take into consideration the need of workers in the field of 
education of the deaf. This field covers the whole United 
States^ as every state has a school for deaf children or makes 
provision for their instruction in a near-by school. There 
are also many private schools and day schools in existence. 

*^^There are some fourteen thousand deaf children under 
instruction and about fourteen hundred teachers employed. 

^^The grade of work done in the state schools for the deaf 
starts with the most elementary and goes up into the lower 
high school course. There is also first-class industrial work 
conducted in nearly all of the large schools. 

^^Salaries of teachers vary from six hundred dollars and 
living upward. The average salary of men teachers is in 
the neighborhood of fifteen hundred to two thousand dollars. 

^^What is most needed in this special profession at the 
present time is young men of good collegiate training and 
executive ability. To such young men attractive positions 
are open which should lead in course of time to executive 
positions as heads of education departments of residential 
institutions where salaries generally include living and from 
twenty-five hundred to three thousand dollars cash compen- 
sation. 

"The work of educating the deaf is a special one requiring 
training along unusual lines. Normal fellowships in the ad- 
vanced department of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf, 



The Defective 43 

known as Gallaudet College, are open each year for a limited 
number of young men who are Just graduating from college. 
These fellowships are valued at five hundred dollars, includ- 
ing livings tuirion, etc. They lead to a further collegiate 
degree, and the graduates have no difficulty in obtaining 
positions. 

^'^The work of educating the deaf has been highly developed 
in the past century and is one of the most necessary parts 
of our educational undertakings. I hope that classes in 
sociology may have their attention called to this field and 
that we shall be able to recruit the ranks of our profession 
from earnest young men who are willing to do a necessary 
and helpful task as their life work/' 



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